Malak Mattar, Untitled (detail), 2024, charcoal on paper
Essay Fragment: Moral Model of Disability
| xxxThat winter we kept xx | xxxfinding the wings xx |
| xxxof pigeons pulled from their sockets. xx | xxxViscera deleted xx |
| xxxby the rain. A symbol xx | xxxstripped of its meaning. xx |
| xxxWorry bead mistaken xx | xxxfor a pebble. My mother xx |
| xxxwill not admit to our history xx | xxxheirloom of disease. xx |
| xxxOnce, malformed children xx | xxxwere dashed against the rocks xx |
| xxxslay the child, spare xx | xxxyour now unburdened blood. xx |
| xxxMy chest is rivered with cracks xx | xxxmy sternum broken like xx |
| xxxan ox. My father tells me xx | xxxthat a wolf will eat xx |
| xxxtheir own young xx | xxxthose too weak to survive. xx |
| xxxThis morning, a stranger in the strip mall xx | xxxoffered blessing palms xx |
| xxxto pull this shattered bone into xx | xxxchurch’s sharp-edged mercy. xx |
| xxxThis disabled body is always product xx | xxxor vessel xx |
| xxx[of sin/for mercy]. xx | xxxAlways this body of crooked back xx |
| xxx& sidestepped gender. xx | xxxBody of apple-taker xx |
| xxx& rib-giver. xx | xxxThis body of ungiftings xx |
| xxxworth praying xx | xxxaway. xx |
