Poems with Disabilities

I sure can't disagree with him because I know I can't always tell just by looking. Can you?

TGB   

     I'm sorry-this space is reserved
     for poems with disabilities. I know
     it's one of the best spaces in the book,
     but the Poems with Disabilities Act

     requires us to make all reasonable
     accommodations for poems that aren't
     normal. There is a nice space just
     a few pages over-in fact (don't
     tell anyone) I think it's better

     than this one, I myself prefer it.
     Actually I don't see any of those
     poems right now myself, but you never know
     when one might show up, so we have to keep
     this space open. You can't always tell

     just from looking at them, either. Sometimes
     they'll look just like a regular poem
     when they roll in—you're reading along
     and suddenly everything
     changes, the world tilts

     a little, angle of vision
     jumps, focus
     shifts. You remember
     your aunt died of cancer at just your age
     and maybe yesterday's twinge means

     something after all. Your sloppy,
     fragile heart beats
     a little faster

     and then you know.
     You just know.
     And the poem
     is right
     where it
     belongs.

by Jim Ferris, 2000