tw. Ableism

My body doesn’t work – they say –
to please the male gaze.

My body doesn’t work
to cope with the 8h-per-day
working schedule.

My body doesn’t work
to be drafted,
to give birth
or to please
whoever demands
to be pleased.

My body is a dividing line
between my light
and the world.

But my body works
to dance, badly and clumsily,
under the rain
when nobody is watching.

It works
to punch,
to save itself.

It works
to grow fruits,
to get muddy,
to taste the wind.

My body works
as a lair
for non-normative
pleasures.

While my sex is a hibernating winter,
my nerves are a hieroglyph
of orgasms
randomly spread
throughout the skin.

My body doesn’t serve any purpose,
it doesn’t serve anybody
because it is not built for serfdom.

No     body     is.

My body is built
to enjoy witchcraft,
to hug the others,
to give birth to fantasies,
to swallow life until it’s over.

My body serves ME.
I am its purpose.
It works to heal me.
To heal with and for my people.

A purpose for which society,
the same one that has always named
and built us disabled,
has never been able
at all.

Title: TW. Ableism.
Poet Name: Cénix C. Callejo.

Long story short, this poem was written in 2017, at a homeless day shelter, to remind myself that I –a violence survivor- as well as any person in any difficult or similar situation, was worthy and deserved the job I was denied, the home I wasn’t able to afford and the safety I wasn’t guaranteed with. I hope others can find comfort in it and it can help them to navigate their own paths whenever it gets tricky, and I also hope it can be a tiny contribution towards a much needed social change.

Callejo García C. C. (2020). TW. Ableism. Disability Justice & Violence Prevention Resource Hub. Retrieved from: https://indisabilityjustice.org/insert-publication-link

Name: Cénix C. Callejo.
Pronouns: They/them.

Bio: Cénix is a biologist and an environmental activist. They are a MSc in Biology, a Wildlife Rehabilitator and Environmental Educator Specialized in Grassroots Community Conservation, at different farmers and indigenous-led conservation projects. They have studied and volunteered/worked within the Environmental Field at Spain, UK, Greece, Peru and Ecuador.

Besides Wildlife Protection, Cénix has also been and is actively involved within several activism fields, regarding Mental Health, Disability, Survivorship, Homelessness and Transfeminism, amongst others.

After several episodes of male violence and mobbing linked to a severe work accident at their last job placement in 2019, they are currently being hosted at Spain, recovering while working and expanding their studies, seeking to expand their working opportunities in order to be able to fully afford again their own room and life expenses.

Photo:

[PHOTO DESCRIPTION: A frontal picture of Cénix, a white person with black curly hair to the shoulders, from head to knees. They are at a forest. Their right hand is grabbing a branch tree, their left arm is hanging. They are wearing grey sports trousers, a colourful shirt with flowers and a pink sweater.  They are smiling and wearing black and white glasses. They are also wearing a red fanny pack with a pin of a yellow daffodil. There is a big rock behind them and green trees at the back.]

Where to read more: You can find more about their poetry (in Spanish) or contact them at their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Oniroteca/

Neuroqueer Survivorship/Supervivencia Neuroqueer – Faerie Bear Art

About Faerie Bear Art

Faerie Bear Art is an art adventure by Skye Ashton Kantola (she/they) founded in late 2016. Skye is a fat, white, trans, queer, and intersex, chronically ill autistic person. Skye’s art focuses on trauma healing and uplifting marginalized communities. 10% of all art sales are donated to BreakOUT! Youth, a QTPOC youth lead organization focused on abolition and decriminalization in Louisiana. In some cases, the profits from certain pieces are also split with collaborators.

Poem: Personal Healing is Communal Healing – Faerie Bear Art

A comic-style hand-drawn graphic with 4 panels numbered 1-4 from top to bottom and left to right. The art is titled "Personal Healing is Communal Healing", the same as the associated poem. In the first panel, a child is sitting sadly with a closed body posture, their arms crossed over their lap, head down, crying, and with a broken heart over their chest. An adult is also in this panel, standing, kind of slumped over, also crying. Their heart is a jumbled mess of tangled lines. In the second panel, the child is in the same position. The adult has opened their eyes and stopped crying as they begin paying closer attention to their body. Their tangles heart lines appear to be taking some shape. In the third graphic, the child still has their arms crossed over their lap and their heart is still broken, but they have opened their eyes to look at the adult and stopped crying. The adult's heart has formed into their inner child - whole again - and they are gently cradling their inner child as the sitting child looks on. In the final frame, the adult has worked with their childhood self to heal enough that they an now share their inner child with the sitting child. They have bent down, arms open, to invite their inner child to support the sitting child who is clearly navigating their own childhood harm. The inner child gently wraps their arms around the sitting child and the sitting child smiles to welcome the embrace and their heart begins to get *stitched* back together to heal. All three are in more open, inviting, and connected positions. The comic ends with a social media handle @FaerieBearArt for Patreon, Etsy, Facebook, and Instragram.
A comic-style hand-drawn graphic with 4 panels numbered 1-4 from top to bottom and left to right. The art is titled “Personal Healing is Communal Healing”, the same as the associated poem. In the first panel, a child is sitting sadly with a closed body posture, their arms crossed over their lap, head down, crying, and with a broken heart over their chest. An adult is also in this panel, standing, kind of slumped over, also crying. Their heart is a jumbled mess of tangled lines. In the second panel, the child is in the same position. The adult has opened their eyes and stopped crying as they begin paying closer attention to their body. Their tangles heart lines appear to be taking some shape. In the third graphic, the child still has their arms crossed over their lap and their heart is still broken, but they have opened their eyes to look at the adult and stopped crying. The adult’s heart has formed into their inner child – whole again – and they are gently cradling their inner child as the sitting child looks on. In the final frame, the adult has worked with their childhood self to heal enough that they an now share their inner child with the sitting child. They have bent down, arms open, to invite their inner child to support the sitting child who is clearly navigating their own childhood harm. The inner child gently wraps their arms around the sitting child and the sitting child smiles to welcome the embrace and their heart begins to get *stitched* back together to heal. All three are in more open, inviting, and connected positions. The comic ends with a social media handle @FaerieBearArt for Patreon, Etsy, Facebook, and Instragram.

Poem

I cannot find the childhood I lost.

But maybe
I can create love and safety
For children now – my childhood now –

Or at least

Let other lost children
Know they aren’t alone.
We aren’t alone.

About Faerie Bear Art

Faerie Bear Art is an art adventure by Skye Ashton Kantola (she/they) founded in late 2016. Skye is a fat, white, trans, queer, and intersex, chronically ill autistic person. Skye’s art focuses on trauma healing and uplifting marginalized communities. 10% of all art sales are donated to BreakOUT! Youth, a QTPOC youth lead organization focused on abolition and decriminalization in Louisiana. In some cases, the profits from certain pieces are also split with collaborators.

Ink Zentangle Highland Calf – Faerie Bear Art

An ink illustration of a highland calf who is galloping towards the right. This artwork contains an embedded words, "Productivity does not define your worth. Your worth is unconditional."
An ink illustration of a highland calf who is galloping towards the right. This artwork contains an embedded words, “Productivity does not define your worth. Your worth is unconditional.”

About the Art

I created this shortly after my chronic lyme diagnosis and after beginning the first several months of treatment.  As my ability to work and be “productive” in ways that are rewarded by capitalism have decreased, I’ve been struggling to disentangle self-worth from ideas of productivity.  This is valuable and important and hard. I’m learning to listen to my body more and trust my own emotions.  I used to ignore pain, fatigue, and my emotional state to force myself through work.  Now if I cry, I know it’s because I’m too tired and I’m reaching meltdown status.  I need to stop and rest. Let’s create a world together in which people are valued for their humanity, not their productivity.

About Faerie Bear Art

Faerie Bear Art is an art adventure by Skye Ashton Kantola (she/they) founded in late 2016. Skye is a fat, white, trans, queer, and intersex, chronically ill autistic person. Skye’s art focuses on trauma healing and uplifting marginalized communities. 10% of all art sales are donated to BreakOUT! Youth, a QTPOC youth lead organization focused on abolition and decriminalization in Louisiana. In some cases, the profits from certain pieces are also split with collaborators.