Sweet. Salty.
Sugar.  Honey.
Laughing.
Crying.
It’s not
Funny.

Spicy. Plain.
Feeling that
It’s all
The same.

Time for
you
Time for
them
Time for
him
Time for
her

No time
for me
No time
to be
Not feeling
free

A change
as good
as a rest?

do I need a change
do I need a rest
not quite sure
which would be best

Time for me
Time to be
Feel free

Different is good
Different is fun
Different is different

Needs and wants
different
yet the same.

I need a change
I want a change
I need things
to stop
being the same
always
and I want
things
to stop
always
being
the same.

A change
may be
as good as
“a rest”

Well.
not for me.
I’m greedy
I want both.

The jingle jangle of the boats waiting, alone
Hoping some day their sailor will come.
Secret meaning
Hidden from the world
At large.

So obvious!
So true

So freeing
So happy

And yet so hidden
hard to find unless you look
beyond what it at first seems

Boring they say
They don’t know

Not many do.
But oh how those that do
Look and laugh
free and fast.

Some lucky few have friends
Who push
Who nag
Who share
Who care.

The naysayers give in
And give it a go
“just this once”
they say

Three years later
She looks,
She laughs
She is free
flying fast
water pounds
Sails flap and sounds.

So happy
So grateful
Such a part of me.

Sounds of the water and the sight of the sea
The jingle jangle of the boats no longer waiting
The sailor has come.

Today I’m offering up a slightly ranting disability rights poem.  It’s based on two events which happened today - one of which shocked, sickened and even scared me.

 it’s not my problem

it’s not my responsibility

it’s not my job

or so you tell me

well, guess what?

dealing with your attitude

your disphobia

your ableism

educating you

banging my head against a brick wall

trying desperately to help one of my people

to show that we matter

we care

we are part of society

and

that we are people

the same as you

shouldn’t be MY problem

shouldn’t be MY responsibility

shouldn’t be MY job

but people like you

make it like that

i hate that

but i refuse to let my people suffer

or to suffer in silence

when i can fight

fight

fight

and so

it is MY responsibility

it is MY job

and

it is MY problem.

Until such time

as i no longer hear those words

and

i’m not waiting

20 minutes

to be helped

off the train

and my people don’t

spend an hour

lying on the floor

because no one will help

them up

and

i’m sorry

my wheelchair

causes a

problem

for

you

but

i don’t

really care

disability rights

it’s not your problem

your job

or your responsibility

it is mine

but

it shouldn’t be

it should

belong

to all of us.

want me

to

shut up?

listen

to

me

help

me

learn

from

me

and

MY

people

equality

disability

rights

and

awareness

everyone’s

problem.

[I found another disabled person lying on the floor in a disabled toilet in a main London train station this morning.  He had pulled the emergency alarm but no one came.  When I found him the alarm was going off and he'd been there an hour - and the first staff member i told went "it's not my job, not my problem" and walked off. - kinda put the fact i had to wait 20 minutes for help off a train into perspective]

Today I knitted a purse (wallet) for swimming - just big enough for me to stick some loose change in to pay for my drink and probably my phone as well. Maybe even my iPod but I didn’t try that one out yet. Hopefully that will stop the incessant hunting through my swimming bag I do multiple times every Friday. But I’m not holding my breath!

I love the feel of the material, it’s made with several strands of DK in two different colours held together. I may make a floaty accessory type scarf the same way one day - I was going to do that today but I didn’t get started in time to get it finished. And as I’m lousy at finishing projects this A Thing A Day Challenge is great for me - I have to finish things (and also start them on the same day). Yesterday’s “thing” was the images on here and also on Writings of a Wheelchair Princess (yes, I renamed it - no more “Life and Times”)

This project is on my Ravelry projects page, HERE