071521

the spongy yard
follows me inside
easy to track

112120b

 

wheels spin

 

lurching from gravel

to grass

 

November blooms of ginger

lantana, hyssop, and camellia

born from the runaway climate

082120b

 

going up 

the slick ramp in a drizzle 

I think I can

071520c

jolt

as the floorboard snaps

wheel held fast

032320c

churned
mudcaked wheels
another rainy day

031420d

Stuck in my seat

Downshifting to first

for my caregivers to

move the chair

after I get in bed

scars on the wall

opening up to 10^th

for the trip across campus

20-year-olds

shy like colts

haven’t hit one yet

111519c

from my wheelchair
I can't reach the fossils
nothing in my hands

110519b

only the main door
is wheelchair accessible
modern hotel

102519b

Dodging the raindrops
I miss a few
I am just going to stay wet
until the indoor air dries me
rain in the age of wheelchairs

100819b

rain lilies are gone
by the time the ground dries
searching by wheelchair

091819d

black cat
pacing beside my wheelchair
jump!

091619c

wheelchair dream
parked alone
on the Center's porch

031219b

more rain more mud
traces of my wheels
everywhere I go

030719c

wheelchair tires
squeal all down the hall
after rain

012219b

fossils litter the slope
from my chair
I reach only air

110618d

Worked all day ferrying voters to the polls. Use my wheelchair van to carry five disabled voters today. That took until 4:30 in the afternoon.

102318c

By the way, a week ago I was hit by a car. It wasn't that bad!  I was crossing a driveway in my wheelchair, and a student was at the end of the driveway watching the traffic but not looking in front of her car, as it turned out. She started moving as I was literally a foot in front of her. I slapped the hood of her car and shouted, which might have been the only reason she noticed me. She hit my chair and I didn't know if she hit my leg (remember, I can't feel it). The chair still worked, and might have had a few small scratches on it, but that was all. I broke my leg about 12 years ago (I was already paralyzed),, so I know that the next morning is when I can know that I have broken something. (That time, I woke up feeling really really sick  and my leg was swollen,, both  easily interpreted clues that something was wrong.) Anyway, the next day and subsequent days after being hit by the car, nothing seemed to be wrong. When the student got out of her car, after hitting me, she was crying. I was still angry, but I also felt sorry for her. I got her name and phone number, and promised to call her even if everything was fine. When I did that, she told me she had cried all the way home. I guess she hadn't hit somebody in a wheelchair before! It was a first for me too.

080418b

roots of bamboo
rarely let go
digging in deeper

080418

This morning I had an adventure. This was the kind that in traditional Chinese culture is sometimes called "interesting times." We went out in the garden to look at the flowers. We saw white phlox, Turks hat, zinnias, two kinds of lantana's, rain lilies, spider wort, black-eyed Susan's, and more. Then I got up close and personal with some very soft soil. My wheelchair and I, together, weigh more than 550 pounds. Fortunately I was in the shade, but unfortunately that shade was in Alabama. We were almost to the point of calling the fire department to help lift me up, when some fancy work with pieces of wood got me loose.

071418b

after the rain
the ground squelches for days
under my wheels