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

  • On the left: A white person with brown hair, colorful glasses, and purple lipstick wearing a blue shirt. On the right: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.

    Reason

    In their new poem Reason, Knee Brace alumni Elise Scott and April McCloud write about the stark contrast between the speaker’s devastation about losing their healthcare and the calm with which the robot over the phone changed the speaker’s life forever.

  • A person with long, brown hair, bangs, and black rimmed glasses hides half their face behind a black and brown cat with blue eyes.

    Untitled #2

    “I lose sight of my body/And I fear not recognizing/The girl looking back at me/Inside the cheap mirror in my room.”

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

    another existential crisis

    “I thought the pills would help/Ignore it/I see no reason/to pretend I am okay.” Poet Jess Barselow writes about masking and the tediousness of small talk.

  • 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.

    Application for Disability 

    Poet April McCloud (she/her, 1% bionic human) writes about her complex relationship with disability in the form of an application.

  • A white person with long, curly, brown hair wears a forest green sweater and black-rimmed glasses. She is smiling with her mouth and eyes closed.

    sickness in the seams of it all

    “It’s getting bad again – I mean, this is technically the worst it’s ever been …” In her new poem, sickness in the seams of it all, Sophie Mattholie writes about her experience with POTS.

  • An Asian woman with black, shoulder length hair smiles widely at the camera. The background is blurred and seems to be trees.

    Lessons on Anxiety

    In her first poem for Knee Brace Press, Heather Ann Pulido writes about relationships, anxiety, and endings.

  • A Black person with white-rimmed glasses smiles widely with their eyes closed. They are holding their book, DEAR PHILOMENA by Mugabi Byenkya, and are surrounded by a circle of light.

    texting a friend in 2021

    Mugabi Byenkya’s latest poem, texting a friend in 2021, is about recovery, boundaries, and protecting your peace.

  • A white person with short, pink-tinted hair, smiling with her mouth closed at the camera. Her shirt reads, "You'll all float, too" and has the baloons on it from IT by Stephen King. The background is of pine trees.

    Be Your Own Warrior

    From debut poet Bex Houde comes a story of mythology, mental health, and the choices we make to free ourselves.

  • A white person with brown hair, colorful glasses, and purple lipstick wearing a blue shirt.

    The Apocryphal Horseman

    Finding someone with shared experiences is everything. In their new poem, The Apocryphal Horseman, Elise Scott writes about their relationship with their friend, April.

  • A Black person with white-rimmed glasses smiles widely with their eyes closed. They are holding their book, DEAR PHILOMENA by Mugabi Byenkya, and are surrounded by a circle of light.

    Hopelessly Romantic

    Hopelessly Romantic is a disabled love poem set during the pandemic by award winning author Mugabi Byenkya.