This poem was first published in Raging Grace: Australian Writers Speak Out on Disability, edited by Andy Jackson, Esther Ottaway and Kerri Shying, 2024.

JOYRIDE was written as the third piece of a criptych (crip triptych) of poems about wheelchair joy. The first two poems, not included here, were written by Kerri Shying (HEY THERE LEGS ELEVEN) and Gaele Sobotte (WHEELING THE STICKY DELICIOUS). You can buy a copy of Raging Grace here.

JOYRIDE

Listen I said I’m hell on wheels

burning up the bitumen

I’m that vroom vroom mthrfckr 

that Tilite street fighter 

that acid green that sleek freak

lean mean meme machine

I’m that speed demon born 2 ride

that deadly sin that crip pride

that battleground that unsound

that rebel yell I’m hellbound 

I’m underground I’m thunder

& lightning I’m frightening bipeds

w that BEEPBEEP that tyre shriek

that too fast too young

I’m well hung high-strung 

yeah I’m that scream queen

that in-between seize the means

that high risk heart disease

uncomfortable mortality 

that eugenic disposability

emergency ward striptease 

hospital glam night shift

that fall risk that plot twist

stuck in the hydraulic lift

the grift the grind that grand design 

see u on the picket line 

I’m circling I’m rapid cycling

I’m that manic panic that 

aerodynamic that didactic 

that dialectical materialism

that trans contagion that 

survival mechanism

that narrative prosthesis

I’m spasticus autisticus 

I’m the lunatic the mutant 

the monster the mad bitch 

the noncompliant bad crip 

the fetish fuck the tokenism

yeah I get around I lie down 

I’ll throw down I’ll sing out

WHEELS UP STREETRATS LET’S GO 

watch out we’re revving engines

we’re revolving we’re in revolt

hey I said I’m revolutionary 

age of devolution baby

I said solidarity not charity

I said rise up bash back

Comrades listen I said

this poem kills fascists

I said sing out ye disenfranchised

wheelchairs of the world unite

the manual the motorised 

the rollators the sweet rides

the homefires resistance 

the sticks & stones the inpatients

the impatience the invalids 

the involuntary high vis

the dole bludger proletariat 

the sick cunts the slam dunks

the red flag union hacks

the ticking clock cardiacs

the ethical dilemmas the

queer hypotheticals

inflammatory radicals

the persecuted masses

black armband insurrection

retribution reparations

Listen

I said the revolution’s coming