If it were my bone \u2013 the unmistaken crack, the grinding,
\nsplintered ends, transformation by pain,
\nand body thrown from symmetry \u2013<\/p>\n
then I would not contaminate or as dis-ease infect the tale
\nyou\u2019d tell of how and where and when it happened \u2013
\nall the efforts that you make.<\/p>\n
So no colour-chosen cast, no bindings, sticks or wheels \u2013
\nthe bestowed badges reducing time as a healer into
\na mere inconvenience.<\/p>\n
No itches and aches, the murmurs that all is well
\nto reassure you that soon, sticks returned and cast aside,
\nexercise will seal the memory.<\/p>\n
Instead there is a silence in the grinding splintered ends \u2013
\nan unheard scream inside, pain of transformation,
\nan identity out of symmetry.<\/p>\n
And I contaminate you with my wound laid bare
\nthat you cannot touch, tell or show to friends,
\nwith honour, for your help.<\/p>\n
You are the one pitied \u2013 as if my stress fractures were yours
\ninstead \u2013 and my sticks strike and bruise you
\ninto the sympathetic arms of friends.<\/p>\n
There can be no pride \u2013 as when pushing wheels, being
\nthe missing hand or leg, the shoulder, ear or care \u2013
\nfor this insult is on you<\/p>\n
as if my wheels attached themselves to your knees, or my
\nsticks clamped your arms or my cast swallowed up your leg
\nand my bindings blinded your eyes<\/p>\n
and my bone became yours. Because I question the absolute
\nof my gender, speak of pain unseen that changes my appearance
\nfor all the world to see \u2013 and changes you.<\/p>\n
You can explain a bone, but there is no heroism in being the wife
\nof a man whose accident is gender and who suddenly
\nlooks so beautifully wrong.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
2012 © Andie Davidson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If it were my bone \u2013 the unmistaken crack, the grinding, splintered ends, transformation by pain, and body thrown from symmetry \u2013 then I would not contaminate or as dis-ease infect the tale you\u2019d tell of how and where and when it happened \u2013 all the efforts that you make. So no colour-chosen cast, no bindings, sticks or wheels \u2013 the bestowed badges reducing time as a healer into a mere inconvenience. No itches and aches, the murmurs that all is well to reassure you that soon, sticks returned and cast aside, exercise will seal the memory. Instead there is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,6],"tags":[45,31,15,48,36,19,198,58,196],"class_list":["post-2443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-relationships","category-writing","tag-culture","tag-experience","tag-identity","tag-marriage","tag-parents","tag-poetry","tag-relationships","tag-transsexual","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiesplace.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiesplace.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiesplace.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiesplace.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiesplace.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiesplace.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3036,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiesplace.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443\/revisions\/3036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiesplace.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiesplace.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiesplace.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}