The world is a river, it pushes me back
fighting forever in an upstream battle
Every day a struggle, a migration through
the current, forcing myself along.

I fight when the snow nips my bare heels
melts into my sleeves, down to my elbow
The icy wind turns my fingers to plaster
I push through when my car becomes
A blocky shape of Styrofoam,

I struggle with low vision, no traction.
sliding and skidding, when
stopping’s not a defense but a
carefully calculated counterattack
Cold wetness creeps from the hem of my pants,
A beast crawling slowly to steal all my warmth.

I push when I want to curl into a ball
And I shake, want to stop, to go home
When the water seeps into my mind
trying to take control of me, make me
give up. The water, the snow, the pool
push me back, they break me down,
but I swim on.