A Brief Moment in Disability History
When Antonio Gramsci was a child
His family tied him up in a harness
And hanged him from the rafters
They were going to
“Straighten him out”
“Rimetterlo in riga”
(He was short and bent)
“Non possiamo permetterlo”
“We can’t have that”
How his bones (tubercular)
Must have ached
How, in agony, suspended
He must have seen birds
Through the proscenium
Of the barn’s door
Italian sparrows
With their calls
Like dropped pennies
Little chirps
While dipping in air
And after this
He didn’t need to learn
Anything more
Planet of the Blind 