Katheryn Krotzer Laborde

WHEELCHAIR

Listen to the audio version.

Yesterday,
in the midst of talking
of one thing or another,
Mom mentioned being
handicapped

as though I might not know this,
as though it were not a big deal,
just a word to slip in lightly
to round out the end of a thought.

It was one of those startling moments
that suck air from a pretty room,
leaving you suddenly so very conscious
of the whiteness of her hair.

Katheryn Krotzer Laborde works in the city (and writes in the suburbs) of New Orleans. Much of her past work focused on disaster evacuation experiences and the early recovery days that followed Hurricane Katrina; this includes a book about the discarded refrigerators that cluttered the curbs for months. She is currently working on a book about Flannery O’Connor. Her writing has appeared in South Writ Large, Poets&Writers, Callaloo, Free State Review, and other sites and journals.