Print version first published in Southerly Literary Journal, edition 72.
more poems in this collection can be heard at this link:
https://becopoetry.com/2017/01/19/in-collaboration-with-max-2/
Tag: disability
i battle with a body primed to run
the same as yesterday
what haven’t i done?
what have i done?
i haven’t taken my pills
i have taken my pills every day
a guilty urge to hide in bed
it’s then i remember
we’re still in lockdown
i think of my feet
i feel into my hands
.
interrupting my tricks to fix
a familiar sound
thumping feet on the floorboards
a wide gait trot
from his bedroom to mine
.
he pauses at the edge of my mattress
giggles when he meets my eyes
roughly pulls up the doona
bums his way into bed
and begins stroking my skin
mummy’s shoulder he sighs
then moves his hand to my mouth
Shhhhhhhhh
.
we have time this morning
a suburb away
today his sisters are with their dad
no school runs
no disability day service
just him and i
with nothing in particular
to have to do
.
Shhhhhhhhh i copy
blowing the sound onto his hand
do it again he delights
Shhhhhhhhh i sound
onto his forehead
.
He rests his face onto mine
the hair on his chin
a soft prickle on my cheek
my exhale slows
he sniffs at my mouth
wincing at my un-brushed breath
he pushes my shoulder away
cuddle Mummy’s back
i laugh and turn
.
he spoons in close
strokes the skin on my collar bone
his nose tip touching the back of my neck
Mummy’s shoulder he sighs
in collaboration with Max
First published in Southerly Literary Journal 76.2, November 2016
- noise, advice, conversation and a song under water were not submitted to Southerly.
- a song under water was exhibited along with audio version at the George Paton Gallery, 2017
all audio versions found here
In Collaboration with Max is poetry composed by Max Lewis and Rebecca Sullivan. Max experiences autism as well as delayed intellectual and physical growth. Max’s poetics is experimental and he can be heard expressing himself in venues across Melbourne. Rebecca and Max collaborate to advocate for the voice of poets with disability. A selection of poems from In Collaboration with Max were first Published in Southerly Literally Journal 76.2
In Collaboration with Max includes 9 poems and a Poetics Blue Print titled The ‘Special Needs’ of Poetry.
A recital of a small selection of the collaboration is viewed here
A recital of a selection of the collaborative poems with improvised jazz is found here
The audio versions of all poems in the collaboration are found below.
a song in his own voice here
becopoetry 