Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Three November-December 2024
Aotearoa Poets and Writers Special Edition
Misplaced concern, poems by Andy Fey.
Misplaced concern
“What have you done to yourself?”
Have you considered what this question does?
You make my mobility aid feel like a consequence.
Done- that’s how I feel. My body shouldn’t need an explanation.
To exist, crippled yet uninterrogated, would be a relief. Examine
Yourself- why does seeing my disability bother you so much?
Joy | Resistance
Joy as a form of resistance-
In a world that would see us crushed
The most radical thing you can be is happy.
I have felt loved most by my community
When they have shown up for me-
Resistance as a source of joy.
Pneumonia, 2024
‘Productive cough’
A wonderful medical euphemism-
It’ll be the only ‘productive’ thing about me.
The first time I caught pneumonia
I taught myself embroidery
Each dip into delirium
Marked upon my fingers
Second time around, hospitalised
Anaphylaxis, fish-gasping, word slurring
Antibiotics harming, not healing.
Third time
Fatigue ever present
Dull siphoning saps
Stealing moments of lucidity
Hours counted in cracked foil packets
Measures to address fever, pain, nausea
Nobody tells you how boring it is
To be bedridden
Even the radio dissolves into static
Crackle and buzz bone-weary
“Oh, I wish I could laze around all day.”
Come over here and tell me that
…after I can move again.
© Andy Fey
Andy Fey (he/they) is a queer, disabled Pākehā working in the tertiary education sector, with professional and research interests in access, inclusion and belonging. Andy is an activist and educator, using poetry and zines as a mechanism to connect with people. Their recent performance piece in collaboration with Shasha Ali, ‘Are you meant to be here?’ explored workplace exclusion, and was performed at Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland ASPIRE Conference in 2024.