Author | Lightnews

brokenwingpoet

@brokenwingpoet.bsky.social

140 followers 160 following 38 posts

Poet. Writing on disability & eco justice. Bedbound with Long COVID and Severe ME. 🍉 🇵🇸 🌲 🐦 😷 WILDNESS UNAFRAID, Kelsay Books (2026).

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Feb 21

A bedbound poem on isolation and our frayed connection to the outer world that reminds us — we will always belong.

#LongCovid #MECFS #pwME #chronicillness
#poem #poetry

ID: A poem titled, “For These Brief Moments” with melodic piano music playing.

I measure time by the angle
dim slivers of light enter my room
each morning from behind
ever-closed curtains, by the way
their faint glow subtly shifts
through the day, until it fades
beyond the reach of dusk.

One year bedbound, I lose track
of the natural world, the only place
I didn’t question if I belonged.
But strains of it still drift
through walls in birdsong,
distant banter of crows,
whispered echoes of rain.

Spring’s finches grow
chummy in summer.
Each day, around noon
settling on the windowsill
just above my head, bathing
in the warmth of the sun
for much of the afternoon.

I can’t see them
but hear soft scraping
of claws scampering about,
occasional fluttering of wings,
bickerings over who sits where.
And for these brief moments
I am not lonely.

5 13 34

Reposted by brokenwingpoet

Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 18d

Long Covid Is Real — And It’s Changing an Entire Generation

Hundreds of thousands of kids in America are struggling with an illness that many doctors and schools refuse to recognize.e

Feature: www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...

29 590 1.2K

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Sep 29

A poem for a season that better matches my mood and life.

#LongCovid #mecfs #pwme

Welcome Autumn

Birdless skies become
but another ceiling just painted
blue, or mostly gray, come autumn.
The change of seasons noticed
by the shift in pitch of darkness.
Fall gives an excuse to do
what I always do, sit
with a blanket in bed, hoping
this will not be forever,
but this time with a softness
that holds me, that follows
this restful time of year,
the kind of softness I yearn for
in summer but rarely find
in its unrelenting bright, hot days.

3 6

Reposted by brokenwingpoet

Epistemic Literary- Read Issue 6: Nostalgia now! @epistemiclit.bsky.social · Sep 12

More awards! Congratulations to our @genrepunkmag.bsky.social awards nominees!

@haleydirenzo.bsky.social
@jameslilliefors.bsky.social
@gretchenfilart.bsky.social
Allison Zaczynski
@brokenwingpoet.bsky.social
Arti Jain
Chelsea Allen
Mac Carey
Luis Lopez Galan

GENREPUNK AWARD NOMINATIONS

EDITOR'S CHOICE
HALEY DIRENZO | UPENDING THE GARDEN
JAMES LILLIEFORS | THERE WILL BE WARNINGS
GRETCHEN FILART | GARDENING DURING A DEPRESSIVE EPISODE

DISABLED CREATIVES
ALLISON ZACZYNSKI | ISOLATION
TIM MURPHY | FOR THESE BRIEF MOMENTS

WILDCARD
ARTI JAIN | OF SONGS, THRESHOLDS, AND SLIPPERS

HAUNTING
CHELSEA ALLEN | SMOKE TRAILS
MAC CAREY | LAST LIGHT
LUIS LOPEZ GALAN | DIGNITY

1 2 11

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Aug 8

Today is Severe ME Day. A poem imagining a world free of the ableism that compounds the trauma of this dreaded illness.

#SevereMEday #pwME #MECFS #SevereME
#ableism #bedbound

Like a Fallen Feather

What if the ableism
heaped higher
the sicker we become,
figments of a
poisoned imagination
suffocating our own,
this anchor of shame
not ours to carry,
what if
– for even just this moment –
we released it completely?

What if we could hold
the disabled parts of ourselves
in our own two hands
the way one holds a fallen feather?

Its soft, delicate lightness
born on this wing to rise or
when wounded to rest
in the warm shelter of the nest
as long as need be, dreaming
of the demise of a culture
that wishes, quickens our own,
reborn as a community of care,
where pain is seen and tended,
not hidden and held alone,
where the body is not a tool
but a keeper of wisdom
not meant to die
untold, unheard.

1 8 21

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Jul 31

A poem about the simplicity of life that I miss.

#longcovid #mecfs #severeme #bedbound #millionsmissing #grief #covidisnotover #loss #chronicillness #chronicillnesscommunity #poetry #poetrycommunity

[ID: Calculating

I’m so tired of calculating.
Whether I can walk across
a room or to the doorway
to smell fresh air
for the first time in days,
to feel summer on my face.
Whether I can listen
to five minutes of an audiobook
without drowning in malaise.

I’m so tired of calculating
every thought. Should I even
be writing a poem right now?
Shouldn’t I be resting
in silent darkness? I spend
most of my ever-drained battery
on medical appointments,
fighting insurance companies,
trialing new drugs and riding
waves of side effects.

I’m so tired of calculating
just to ration for small, fleeting
moments, moments that sometimes
resemble joy. Like the butterfly
dancing with wind out my window,
or the finch singing
unseen in a nearby tree.
I’m so tired of calculating.
I miss the luxury of living.]

1 14

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Jul 26

The genocide and forced starvation in Gaza is indefensible. It’s ethnic cleansing in plain view.

#freepalestine #endthegenocide

@bobbylefebre.bsky.social

Israel is starving Gaza.

Line is repeated over and over again on an off white colored background, in typewriter font.

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Jul 8

Long COVID anniversary on our anniversary. A day of grief with shadows of joy. The impossible lives disabled people are expected to live.

#LongCOVID #MECFS
#severeME #beebound
#poetry #grief

[ID: What If

What if the happiest day of your life melted,
dissolved backwards in time to become
the day from which you may never recover?

What if the moment that was yours became
a kettle left on the burner too long,
too hot for memory to touch?

What if we lived in a world where disabilities
were honored before doubted? Where those
most sick were protected by those closest to them?

Instead, I lie in bed, think the same thought
that has no beginning nor end.
Just a breath I took one day
I’ll never know which one.
Just a breath I took one day
given to me by someone.]

1 5 22

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Jul 2

New poem in Bed Zine. The loss of meaningful connection to nature is amongst the cruelest parts of this illness.

#LongCovid #MECFS
#Bedbound #SevereME

[ID: A poem titled “Severed”

Severed
Exiled
by a living
death disease,
to a bed
where trees
go unseen,
waves of wind
unfelt,
birdsong
unheard.
Even silence rings
in my ears
like howling
grief echoes
in this cave
so dark
I mistake
its walls
for skin.]

1 3 11

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Jun 8

I’m excited to announce my debut poetry collection, “Wildness Unafraid,” has been accepted for publication! I’ll post more details as the release date gets closer.

#poetry #ecopoetry
#poetrycommunity
#ecojustice

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · May 12

On this M.E. Awareness Day, too tired to type more than these words.

#mecfs #pwme #millionsmissing
#meawarenessday
#mecfsawareness

ID: Poem titled “M.E. Awareness Day”

The living death disease saps
all life but keeps you living,
wanting, longing for the life
that was but is no more, yearning
at least for a life, for a life
that feels like you’re alive again,
like there is something beyond
this boundless sea and its
wave after wave of suffering.

3 8

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · May 10

A new poem in @hootreview about the constant, unwinding grief and loss of being indefinitely ill during a pandemic so few still observe.

#LongCovid #chronicillness #grief
#mecfs #pwme

[ID: A poem titled “Unhurried”

Grieve
as the snail slides
unhurried
yet everywhere
they must reach
they find.

Grieve
as the snail glides
unbothered
by expectations of time
their pace as protective
as their shell.

2 2 8

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Apr 9

For my disability case, I cited studies that use the NASA lean test, and had my doctor vouch for its efficacy. And it worked. May not for everyone, but just putting it out there since there’s a safer alternative. And people shouldn’t have to jeopardize their health to show how sick they are.

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Apr 8

A poem about surviving this torturous illness — by protecting dreams, finding our voice, and maintaining whatever connection we can to the outer world.

#LongCovid #pwME
#MECFS #SevereME
#disability #poem #poetry

How Sparrows Sing

Even bedbound
and splintered
I know I can’t stay
hidden forever.

I have little choice
even if unseen
must find again
my voice

and remember
remember how
sparrows sing
through coldest

heart of winter
as we dream
through darkest
hours of night.

3 9

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Apr 5

The air we’re forced to share, poisoned by privilege.

#LongCovid #MECFS
#pwME #SevereME
#ableism #millionsmissing
#Covidisntover

ID: A poem titled “poisoned”

Disabled.
You can say it.
Not a poison word.
But we do live in ableds’
poisoned world.

1 7

Reposted by brokenwingpoet

Miles W. Griffis @mileswgriffis.bsky.social · Apr 4

"The Severe....recognize the depths of the pit of horror that the Very Severe may find themselves stuck in...yet by leaning over to lend a hand, we risk falling further into the quicksand ourselves."

Vital op-ed by Sam Pearce in @thesicktimes.bsky.social

thesicktimes.org/2025/04/04/a...

An international emergency task force is urgently needed for Severe Long COVID and ME crisis cases - The Sick Times

Without one, Severe advocates are putting themselves at risk. It’s time for advocacy organizations to step up. Writer’s note: In this essay, I deliberately capitalize different categories of ME in ord...

thesicktimes.org

8 22

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Mar 29

A poem appearing in the Tiger Moth Review, about a heron I came to know before becoming bedbound, about our tenuous relationship to disability and the more than human world.

#poetry #naturepoetry
#ecopoetry #disability
#ecojustice #heron

[ID: A poem titled, Broken-Winged Heron

At a small, wooded pond
near where I live dwells
a broken-winged heron.
He does not exist
to inspire wonder,
though wonder
he inspires.

He possesses only himself,
not pushing parts away
to be whole or belong
to something larger,
for only one species insists
disability must be fixed
or assigned perpetual shame.

No, the heron does not write
dreams in the night
of his wing mended
but of the hunt that feeds him,
comforts of nest that hold him,
dangers he must ever know
that breathe him into being.

Encased in these walls,
I still dream of that heron,
still hope we meet again
someday, must believe
the beautiful creature is still
alive, as well as one can be
amidst unsettling times.]

2 8

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Mar 27

What device do you use that gives this data? I’m familiar with the FUNCAP survey, but wasn’t sure how it worked with different tracking technologies.

Reposted by brokenwingpoet

Dr Elisa Perego @elisaperego78.bsky.social · Mar 26

The Covid pandemic isn't over. Almost 1,000 people died from Covid last week in the US alone. Given the lack of testing and surveillance, the real number might be much higher. And an estimated 400 millions have or had Long Covid worldwide

3 71 200

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Mar 22

This is what eugenics looks like. Literally banning disabled people from safely existing.

Clean Air Club @cleanairclub.bsky.social · Mar 22

Re mask bans: sunglasses conceal people's identity more effectively than masks do, but everyone would object to a sunglasses ban.

The difference is that sunglasses are completely normalized accessibility devices, while masks have been pathologized as part of the total erasure of the pandemic.

1 2

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Mar 19

As Israel and the US break the ceasefire yet again, a poem of mine that appeared in “Songs of Revolution.” The poem is sadly as relevant now as when it was written - at the beginning of this endless genocide.

#freepalestine #armsembargo #landback
#endapartheid
#permanentceasefirenow

A book titled “Songs of Revolution” with a picture of a watermelon sliced open lying on a plate.

Bombed Away on Our Dime
by TIM MURPHY So many casually cheering for a genocide, so many others floating in a sea of their own silence, apathy that drowns another's humanity,
their right to live, makes anything, everything the war machine wants socially acceptable,
even rewarded. Like we learned in school
just manifest
our destiny, the end.
The end, no matter the means. Thousands of endings written from beginnings, no middle, no joyful last moments of innocence lost on their own terms, no chance at a life
beyond their youth
bombed away on our dime.

2 9

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Mar 17

That’s so cool! Remind me of quail, who I love.

1 2

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Mar 15

On Long COVID Awareness Day, a poem reflecting on the limits of awareness alone when not coupled with care.

#LongCovid #LongCovidAwarenessDay #pwME #MECFS
#ableism #disability

A poem titled “Long COVID Awareness Day”

When your world shrinks
to this size, most days
feel less than alive,
and you’re forced
to wonder, who
is really not aware
of this disease, and who
simply doesn’t care?

13 37

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Mar 15

THIS. Thank you - needed to be said.

brokenwingpoet @brokenwingpoet.bsky.social · Mar 14

So fucked up. I’ve seen similar stuff here…