a crip is

after Tara Hardy

after Roma Raye

A crip is a bitch.

A bitch is a war.

A crip is a cry.

A cry is a tool.           

War cry.

A cry is a weapon.

Necessary. A crip

is necessary. A crip

cry is necessary song.           

Song cry.

A crip bitch cries.

Nobody wants to hear.

Bitch and moan. 

Moan means fear.           

Crip

means fear.

Fear is a stone

on the spine. The weight of

life. Stone-spine bitch.

A spine is a tool.           

Witch

weighing a life. Scales.

A monster with scales. Crip

is a monster. Burn the witch. War

cry. Burn. A burn can crown.           

Crown

is a weight. A crip

is not a weight but is crowned. A crip

bitch earns a crown.           

Bone

against bone makes a song.

Witch bone crown.

Try to burn a crip bitch              

down.

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LIV MAMMONE is an editor and poet from Long Island, New York; where she lives with her parents, brother, and family of feral cats. She has previously taught creative writing at Hofstra University and Queens College. Her poetry has appeared in wordgathering, Wicked Banshee, The Medical Journal of Australia, Rogue Agent, QDA: a Queer, Disabled Anthology, Grabbing the Apple and Typo Magazine. As a spoken word poet, she has featured at Sarah Lawrence, Artists Without Walls, Stonybrook University, and Union Square Slam. She is the first visibly disabled person to be on a New York City slam team. She's a two time nominee for 2016's Best of the Net poetry anthology.