top of page

EPISODE 8: Lisa Dances with Aphasia



In a very special episode of There's a Poem in That, a former ballet dancer must override her own stroke-induced paralysis to meet Todd halfway between hemispheres.


It's an intimate exploration of nonverbal disability, in which Todd and Lisa demonstrate that "any dance worth doing is struggle…"



Click below to access a third-party case study of this special episode's impact.




The Poem





In Praise of Your Aphasia


for Lisa


What a beautiful dance you

dance here for us,

        who sit in our

darkness,

     programs in our laps.

     What a raw, sensuous

tension you sustain

        along the body’s limber

borders. How well you

   remind us: any dance

    worth doing is

      struggle.

          There must be a word

           (French, feminine?) for

      the mirror

behind the barre of the mind

           beyond which


no stroke survivor sees. Seize, survivor, stroke — no,


seize again — & we

          seize with you to survive her, too.

      We

      see her. We

              watch you wake &

          wick her.

               All dance is séance,

flames a-flicker. You swirl

         & swivel, unhinged. It’s

  haunting.

On toe-tips,

        fingertips, tip of

tongue,

   it’s ghosts

whose unsung songs you conjure,

        flaunting physical laws.

Do you

  hear our one-

handed applause?



 

If you think there's a poem in your story, leave us a message on our Haiku, Hawaii, guest line, at 808-300-0449.


Become a TAPIT insider by clicking here to join Todd’s Patreon followers for sneak peeks, outtakes, and other supplementary material.

Comentários


bottom of page