Roxanna Bennett
On Beyond Zebra
This poem is an inside joke
for the acute and the affected, the afflicted, the allergic
and the amputated, the anemic, the anorexic, the anxious,
the assisted, the asthmatic, the aphasic, the atrophied,
the atypical, the augmented, the autistic
This poem is an inside joke
for the back-fucked, the bagged, the bedridden, the bent,
the bifurcated, the bilious, the bisected, the bimotherfuckingpolar,
the bleeder, the blind, the bone-fucked, the borderline,
the brain damaged and the brain-fucked, the bulimic, the burned
This poem is inside
the cancerous, the carrier, the catatonic, the chemically-fucked,
the choleric, the chronic, the comatose, the co-dependent, the co-morbid,
the compulsive, the conjoined, the contagious,
the cripple, the cutter, the cystic
This poem is inside
{the D/deaf}, the defective, the deficient, the deformed, the degenerative,
the delusional, the demented, the dependent, the depressed, the developmentally disordered,
the diabetic, the diseased, the dissociative, the Disordered, the Down’s syndromed,
the dyskinetic, the dystonic, the dysphoric
This poem is inside
the encephalitic, the endo-ridden, the epileptic, the episodic,
the eye-fucked, the fat, the friendless, the frightened, the fucked up and fuck ups,
the gangrenous, the gendermental, the genetically challenged, the GERD-er, the giant,
the glandular, the gluten-intolerant, the gouty, the gutted and the gut-fucked
This poem is in
the hallucinating, the heart-fucked and the heart sick, the hemophiliac, the hemorraghic,
the Hepatitis A B and C-er, the herniated, the High Priestess, the hirsute, the HIV positive,
the hobbled, the hoarder, the hormonally-fucked, the hypermobile, the hypersomniac,
the hypervigilant, the hypofuckingchondriac, the hypotensive, the hysteric
This poem is in
the IBD-er and the IBS-er, the impaired, the impotent, the incubated,
the infertile, the infected, the inflamed, the insane, the institutionalized,
the intubated, the invalidated, the impaired, the irradiated,
the isolated
This poem is in
the jaundiced, the junkie, the juvenile arthritic, the kidney-fucked,
the kleptofuckingmaniac, the leper, the leukemia-er, the little, the liver-fucked,
the lock-jawed, the loser, the lost, the low-visioned, the lung-fucked, the lunatic,
the lupus-er and the lyme-er, the macular degenerative, the mad
This is
the maimed, the malarial, (the malingerer), the manic and the manic-fucking-depressive,
the marked, the melancholic, the medicated, the metabolically-fucked, the micro, the macro,
the MS-er, the multiple and the multiply-fucked, the muscle-fucked
and the muscular dystrophic, the mutated, the mutilated
This is
the narcissist, the narcoleptic, the necrotic, the _____ negative,
the neurologically-fucked, the neuropathic, the neurofuckingdivergent,
the Not Criminally Responsible, the obese, the obsessed, the oncological,
the osteo-fucked, the patient Zero
This is
the palsied, the panicked, the paralyzed, the Parkinsonian, the pestilent,
the phobic, the polycystic, the _____ positive, the progerian, the psychiatrized,
the psyfuckingcotic, the quadriplegic, the quarantined, the queer,
the rabid, the recover-er, the regressive, the relapsed, the remissive
is
the renal, the resistant, the rheumatic, the ruptured, the scarred, the schizofuckingphrenic,
the sectioned, the senile, the sensitive, the shell-shocked, the sick, the sickle-celled,
the skin-fucked, the sociofuckingpathic, the somnambulist, the spine-fucked,
the spoonie, the starving, the stomach-fucked, the sub, the suicidal
is
the survivor, the syndromed, the syphilitic, the systemically-fucked,
the terminal, the Thalidomide Kid, the trans, the transplanted, the traumatized,
the tumoured, the ugly, the under, the venal, the vascular, the victim, the viral,
the wounded, the xenophobic
is
black and white and hurts all over
[Image Description: Colour photo of a pasty, tired looking white person from the neck up in front of a tree trunk. They are looking at the camera with an expression that they hope is pleasant and inoffensive and doesn’t betray how nervous they are. They have long red messy hair, a silver hoop in their left nostril and are wearing black-rimmed eyeglasses and a grey sweatshirt.]
Roxanna Bennett
Roxanna Bennett gratefully lives on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation and in the territory covered by the Williams Treaties (Whitby, Ontario). She is a disabled poet and the author of unseen garden (chapbook, knife | fork | book, 2018), The Uncertainty Principle (Tightrope Books, 2014) and Unmeaningable, (Gordon Hill Press, 2019).