Stresses

I worry

 my niece is growing up without me

and what that means for her

future perception of disabled people.

I worry

she’ll become the kid

I met in library…

Muted at the strange conglomeration

of machinery and  human that is me

in my freedom granting power chair

instead  of seeing me as simply “auntie”

the label she still uses when we speak

on the phone,

if she’s at grandma and pop pop’s house,

and not too involved in her cartoon.