We Are Not Your Metaphor: A Disability Poetry Anthology
We are not your metaphor.
This groundbreaking disability poetry anthology brings together eleven poets with disabilities who challenge the pervasive ableist metaphors that reduce disabled experiences to literary devices. Rather than accepting roles as symbols of spiritual ignorance or emotional isolation, these poets assert their full humanity through powerful contemporary verse.
Confronting Ableism in Poetry
"Sometimes ableism is so embedded in our culture that it's hard to recognize that it's there. Getting people to be aware of it is like asking them to think about the air that we breathe in. It's subtle; it's often unconscious and not meant to be hurtful. Yet it often perpetuates untrue and demeaning images and stereotypes. That can fester and, without conscious awareness, form misperceptions about disabled people.
"For poets, one example of this is the ableist metaphors used so often in poetry to describe disabilities or those of us with disabilities. How often have you read poems that use blindness as a metaphor for spiritual ignorance, unthinking faith, or moral failings? Or deafness used as a metaphor for isolation, aloneness--a failure to emotionally communicate? Think: world of darkness. Deaf ears. Crippling rage ..." --Kathi Wolfe
Featured Poets
This anthology showcases diverse voices from the disability community, featuring work by Viktoria Valenzuela, Gaia Celeste Thomas, Elizabeth Theriot, Zoe Stoller, Jessica Suzanne Stokes, Margaret Ricketts, Naomi Ortiz, Raymond Luczak, Stephen Lightbown, Stephanie Heit, and Genevieve Arlie. Each poet brings their unique perspective and lived experience to create authentic disability literature that resists reduction to metaphor.
Supporting Disabled Poets
Proceeds from this book benefit Zoeglossia, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering community among disabled poets. Your purchase directly supports disability arts and literary activism.
This collection serves as both contemporary American poetry and social justice literature, making it an essential addition to disability studies curricula, book clubs focused on diverse voices, and readers seeking authentic representation in poetry.
