I'm 5 and a half years old galloping around the gym in kindergarten class pretending to be a horse when boom all of a sudden I collapse on the floor. The day before I was having so much fun in my ballet class with my giggling girlfriends and my beloved ballet teacher Miss Patricia. While Dr. Moskowitz measured me for a full leg brace I wondered if I would ever be able to dance again.
Eleven years ago, in December of 2006, I sat in Dr. Rosenberg's office in the Spaulding Rehab Outpatient Clinic in Framingham for an evaluation by the International Rehab Center for Polio and Post Polio. I was diagnosed with Post-Polio Syndrome and told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.
I wondered would I ever feel good in my body? Would I ever feel free?
In February of 2007, my imagination was fired up using my pen, my divining rod for healing, as poetry poured out of me at warped speed. It was as though the spigot of my soul was turned on full force and what flowed forth were poems imagining myself healthy, healed, happy and free in my body.
In my mind's eye, even though by all appearances I would never dance again, I saw myself transformed transcending all that went before as:
The Dancer
Crumpled cringing alone in darkness portrait of paralyzed child
heap of limbs loss of control panic fear run rampant and wild.
Enter stage right he gathers her gentle tears honor old embrace new
beautiful ballerina transformed music swells the pas de deux.
Dancing with Spirit she celebrates lost in moment of time and space
winged feet now poetry in motion joyful light ease and grace.
Daring she enters spotlight center stage a vision to behold
vulnerable yet confident - courageous strikingly bold.
On point to an audience she no longer plays,
soul’s rhythm tempo she keeps
magic memories made in each moment
delighting grateful heart leaps.
Her life she now knows has no bounds
choreography her dancing decree
revelations unveiled with each movement
unencumbered expansive now free.
Out of the once deconditioned crumpled body and suffering mind and soul, I created a runner, a dancer and a woman transformed from the effects of paralytic polio and trauma. The power of my imagination as expressed through my poetry opened my portal to healing that continues today.
To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours,
Mary
Proud to be a part of Friends of Blue Diamond Athletic Displays, Inc. Be sure to visit us at Booth 758 during Boston Marathon Weekend.
Be sure to visit my website by following this link.
My books are available on Amazon.
Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life
Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:
And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):
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