Sitting in the wheelchair,
my body becomes
a landscape of sharp variations
with contrasting temperatures.

The foot bushlands are alight
with an inextinguishable, furious fire
day and night.

The calf volcanoes, rumbling
with restless sparklers inside,
ascend sharply to
snow-capped knee tops.

The icy thigh plateaus give way
to a torso wall weighing heavily
on the buttock mounds
sitting on warm, sharp rocks.

The upper back torso wall is cut
by razor-sharp frozen slates,
driven deep into the scapula caves
by movements.

The chest wall is bombarded
with torrential monsoon rains
of sharp needles,
changing its temperature
from icy cold to warm.

The shoulder plateaus
are rigid, stiff and cold,
giving rise to a stiff neck column.

The whole torso is divided into two regions
by a ring of fire
just below the rib cage–
sensitive above, numb below
with neuropathic pain.

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Bush Fire, Australia. Photo by CSIRO, Australia.  CCA 3.0 Unported Licnse.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CSIRO_ScienceImage_392_Naturally_Occurring_Fire.jpg

Snow Capped Mt Fuji. Photo by Σ64.  CC A-S A 3.0 Unported License.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mt.Fuji_from_Mt.Tohnodake.JPG

Monsoon Rains, India. Photo by McKay Savage from London, UK.
CCA 2.0 Generic License.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:India_-_Matheran_-_18_-_Monsoon_rains_(2799493740).jpg
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