Special Ed Is Down The Hall
Disabled And Proud
by
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This poem details Marlin's emergence as a disability rights activist/advocate------ DISABLED AND PROUD:---- I’m quiet most days letting life pass like a 1980s mini-series with low ratings. I keep my mouth shut as I see and feel hatred and ignorance engulf my people in flames of pity and remorse. Hey, I can’t change anything. So fuck it, they’ll get theirs someday. I just have to blend in….overcome without anyone. No one is going to help me. I’m alone in a wheelchair--one of Jerry’s Kids--smiling and used A crippled nigga who will live USA’s view of obese poverty (Laughs, Laughs, Laughs) WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKIN'? THAT’S HOW THEY WANT ME TO BE-- A FIGMENT OF SOCIETY’S REALITY They want to keep me separated from my people who get murdered and berated. They call it mercy killing As the media keeps stereotype-spilling But it is murder in our eyes when we’re killed with non-disabled lies Not any more, BECAUSE I’M TAKING UP THIS REVOLUTION, Opening an old bag of tepid resolution I am gonna shut them down with a remix of James Brown! SAY IT LOUD: DISABLED AND PROUD, Disabled and Proud is not just a slogan on a t-shirt or a political blurb or blurt It is beyond today or tomorrow Not a motto or rule to follow It’s not just rhythmic mime or something that has to rhyme. No matter what laws don’t pass, they better watch out for my DISABLED BLACK ASS. ****************************************** This poem is a glimpse in the life of Marlin and his mother: REMEMBERING THAT BLUE HOUSE ON MAIN STREET:--- I was afraid of the white butterflies that lived on the side of the house. I would want to go to the backyard but I feared fluttering death. Inside the house dwelled large red ants. My mother broke a worn tile piece on the rotten bathroom floor to reveal moving red dirt in chaotic straight lines. I thought these things were the real monsters. The screams from mother's room made those insects scurry away to hide; the blue house rang with screams and thuds As I laid in my bed. His shouts and her crying made me to stay a child because flaming rage and pain in adults burned me my first five years in Main Street's sorrow blue house. My stranger, the father, seemed to never be there, but sounds of horror erupted nightly until she decided to escape the death row cell, the unknown stay of execution. Household memories ached in me as California welcomed a green Buick LeSabre. When her blue-house memories reached for her, Mama would cry against a soul album background. I'm still afraid of dirt-angered ants, but I appreciate butterflies in the summer. I pass that blue house sometimes and the screams are still too loud.
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About the Book
Poet Marlin Thomas was seven years old when he was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy; he wasn't expected to live past the age of seventeen. After Marlin died at the age of thirty, his mother, Cynthia Campbell, compiled this collection of poetry as a tribute to his life.
Marlin's poems reflect his life, dreams, hopes, and commitment to the Disabled Rights Movement. He wrote his first poem when he was seven years old and continued to write until his death. His powerful poetry provides fodder for not only thinking about the experience of being disabled, but to feel it as well. In the poem "the little things," Marlin describes his feelings of loss with the progression of his disability: "I miss the gravel of a new driveway / crunching beneath my feet. / I miss jumping jacks and putting / my hand against my heart. / I miss the hated chore of Joy / dishwashing liquid scrubbing plates."
Packed with emotion and written in modern free verse, Marlin's poetry provided an outlet for him to shout about inequality, to laugh about the absurd, to love intensely and passionately, and to ponder life's complexities.
The book is comprised of five different categories: Childhood (Reality Checked)- detailing his childhood; Man Up- detailing his advocacy for disability rights; Random Perspective; Lovelorn; and Final Perspective.
Please visit the website for Special Ed is Down the Hall for more information: www.specialedisdownthehall.net
About the Author
Cynthia A. Campbell was born and raised in Alton, Illinois. Mother of Marlin Thomas, she compiled this collection of poetry from his works shortly after his death in 2005. Disabled herself, she currently resides in Godfrey, Illinois, where she continues to be an advocate for disability rights.