What Would I Do Able-Bodied?
        — with thanks to June Jordan, and her poem, "What Would I Do White?"

What would I do able-bodied?
What would I do plainly full
of not precisely beans,
perhaps pearls, my spine perfectly aligned,
my gaze a challenge held in your own.

I would hail any cab to go anywhere
in the city, every entrance accessible.
Dine at any table, sit in any seat,
occupy any restroom stall.

I would forget my knees hastening up the stairs.
I would score, not confined to the sidelines.
I would ignore the color cerulean blue,
the special signs of my life.
I would forget.

Over lunch, I would acquire
equity, and doubtless inspire
confidence, capability, that which
I am accustomed to accept

like springtime.

I would do anything
or nothing.
Either would be enough.

Tweet
Copyright © 2021 Johnson Cheu All rights reserved
from The South Carolina Review
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission