Wheel
1.
I watch another sci-film.
Deep space travel is a thing.
The wheelchairs still look like
they were bought in 1982.
2.
We are all the same.
The greatest lie ever sold.
It is funny how different being different
can be.
3.
It is estimated 132,000,000 people
world-wide need a wheelchair,
but over 1,000,000 lack funds
to buy one.
So much is inaccessible. I am thankful
I have access
to the one thing I need.
4.
Stand up and be counted. Stand up
for your rights. Stand with me. So many
bystanders. Double standards. Outstanding
dear boy. Standoff. Standout. Standby.
I cannot stand. I do not understand.
5.
Wheelchair user is not an addiction.
A drug I can live without.
It is all I know.
Stephen Lightbown is a Bristol based, Blackburn born poet. He writes extensively but not exclusively about life as a wheelchair user. In 2019 his first poetry collection, Only Air, was published by Burning Eye Books and his website is www.stephenlightbown.com.