Poet, activist, and author Laura Hershey earned her BA from Colorado College, MFA from Antioch University, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Colorado College. Recognized as a leader in the movement for disability rights, Hershey was the author of Survival Strategies for Going Abroad: A Guide for People with Disabilities. After Hershey’s death following an unexpected illness in 2010, her partner Robin Stephens told the Denver Post, “She was a genius who lived with disability and lived well.”
By Laura Hershey
Don't be brilliant.
Don't use words for their own sake, or to show
how clever you are,
how thoroughly you have subjugated them
to your will, the words.
Don't try to write a poem
as good as your favorite poet.
Don't even try to write
a good poem.
Just...
By Laura Hershey
We are taught not
to gamble.
Perhaps it is thought we have lost
enough already—legs, vision, speech,
the typical use
of our bodies.
Others' fears would teach us
to cringe at any thought
of any risk.
Disability and risk
don't mix.
Risk is something
we are supposed to be protected from—
by agencies,...
