July 31, 2026

cane dweller

by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Originally published in The Way Disabled People Love Each Other (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2026), reprinted here with permission.

This poem is part of the Mizna Online Disability Folio. We encourage you to read other works in this digital curation.

—Mizna Editorial Staff

here they are, young brown queer crippled and in love

holding hands in the co-op with an adaptive device like it’s nothing

—Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

cane dweller

that young queer couple in the co-op parking lot
both short curly haired, they’re holding hands. one has a goth
punk Latinx band t shirt and a purple cane,
and I kinda wanna stick my head out and crow heyyyy cane4cane
but I don’t wanna be
the cripple equivalent of creepy
I’m flashing back to being their age and shyly o so shyly
picking out my first cane
an old scarred wooden grandpa number five bucks in a value village
and my first time trying her out at the Dundas greyhound station,
some dude was like it’s so sad! and I was like, what
and he said when i see young people with stick like that, so sad
and I flushed my mouth shut and made it to my bus but put her away
for years after
here they are, young brown queer crippled and in love
holding hands in the co-op with an adaptive device like it’s nothing
here I am a middle age young illder staring at them teary eyed in
cripple parking
I don’t say shit
I don’t make it weird
I smile, turn the key, drive home.

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (they/them) is the author or co-editor of eleven books, including The Way Disabled People Love Each Other, The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs; Beyond Survival: Stories and Strategies from the Transformative Justice Movement (co-edited with Ejeris Dixon); Tonguebreaker; and Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice. Telling a story is still their favorite form of tech. A Lambda Award winner, Disability Futures Fellow, five time Publishing Triangle shortlister, they are an older cousin who still believes in the disabled future. brownstargirl.org

Photo credit: muy ricco