KNEE BRACE PRESS

A place for stories about chronic illness, disability, mental health, and neurodivergence.

Poetry

Submit your poem to Knee Brace Press! We welcome new voices and veteran poets alike.

Guidelines

All submissions must relate to chronic illness, disability, mental health and/or neurodivergence in some way. What that means is pretty much up to you. If you think your piece covers any of these topics, send it out way!

Our poems

  • A white woman with dark hair is smiling and looking off-camera. She wears a white, long sleeved shirt.

    Temporarily non-disabled

    “My body holds a secret. It demands/to tell me, but won’t whisper it to you.” Poet Christa Fairbrother is back with a piece about invisible illnesses and the pressure to hide them.

  • A white person with long, blonde hair smiling at the camera. She is wearing a red and white plaid shirt.

    All In My Head

    In her poem, Sarah Steinbacher writes about medical gaslighting, invisible disabilities, and the link between mental and physical health.

  • A white woman with dark hair is smiling and looking off-camera. She wears a white, long sleeved shirt.

    A Villanelle for the Utensils

    Christa Fairbrother’s poem A Villanelle for the Utensils is an ode to spoonies everywhere – and the effort it takes for us to complete the tasks others finish so easily.

  • A white person with dark, curly hair smiling at the camera with her mouth closed. They wear a black shirt.

    A Day in the Life With EDS

    “My chest aches. A deeply centered tightness. A pain in the bones./I fight to breathe, bend or twist.” Poet Hannah Frost lets us in on her life with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

  • The photo is in black and white and depicts a white person with long, dark hair smiling to the right of the shot.

    How Many Steps in a Stairwell

    In her newest poem for Knee Brace Press, the prolific Mandy Beattie asks, “How many footsteps in a full stop?”

  • A white woman with light brown hair smiling with her mouth closed. The photo is a selfie. Also pictured: a bookcase in the background and a (really cute) brown and black cat.

    Our Disabilities

    In her new poem, April McCloud describes her experience as a disabled person having disabled friends.

  • A white person with dark, curly hair smiling at the camera with her mouth closed. They wear a black shirt.

    The Drake Passage

    Hannah Frost is poet and volunteer with The LUNA Project and Migraine World Summit.

  • The photo is in black and white and depicts a white person with long, dark hair smiling to the right of the shot.

    Stuck on That Ledge

    “He squats undercover/beneath unlit lintels, mantles, dust mites/spores.” Poet Mandy Beattie writes about the trauma of war in her first poem for Knee Brace Press, Stuck on That Ledge.

  • A white woman with light brown hair smiling with her mouth closed. The photo is a selfie. Also pictured: a bookcase in the background and a (really cute) brown and black cat.

    Invisible Disability

    Is your disability invisible, or is it not real at all? In her newest poem, April McCloud tackles medical gaslighting, self doubt, and more in a single declaration.

  • A white person with yellow-rimmed glasses and long, blonde hair. Their shirt reads, "THE FUTURE IS NONBINARY."

    I was not fine

    “I resent being 34 with no sense of self/beyond the trail of burned bridges,/broken trust,/and unfinished dreams.”