Wheelchair

Who would’ve thought

that mans’ greatest invention

the “wheel”

made to introduce

Speed

Efficiency

Mobility

Freedom

could be so 

Binding

Constraining

Jailing

Shameful

Asking for an elevator

because I can’t take the stairs

like everyone else can.

Meekly raising my hand in a sea of students

only to be called on first

because my teachers thought I could use the attention.

Entering a chattering group of classmates

watching them putting on their masks of fake smiles 

while their conversations awkwardly wither.

Overhearing students gossip

about how I vanished for a month 

and then came back 

like this

Terrified, because one day

perhaps no one would be willing to push me

forward

I wanted to be alone most of the time,

hoping that I wouldn’t scar from the searing stabs of their 

Stolen glances

Evading eyes

Sharp whispers

Legs thinning,

muscles eroding,

I couldn’t run away from the nightmare I was sitting on.

You begin to notice

Everything that you used to do to others

When you’re in a wheelchair.