The Outsider Poem by Kaci Tami

In the classroom, she sat in her
State of the art, souped up wheelchair
Four eyed, two wheeled,
She sat apart as if she suffered
Terribly from a communicable disease
If only they could get inside her head
And feel how left out and hurt she feels
When they ignore her or turn the other way
Sometimes she wonders if the real reason
behind their stares is because she isn’t able to run
and play freely with them

All she ever wants
Is the opportunity just once
To be able to stand
On her own two feet
To feel the cold of cement
The wetness of waves
Or the grittiness of sand
To feel the hardness of the sun dried earth
Or the softness of wet kelp

But instead her feet are anchored
to her chair
And each day she herself can only stare
At the children playing games in the playground
And all she can do is watch!