Welcome
Well met, dear reader!
On this blog, I devote many words to my passions: music, nature, inclusion, and poetry. From my perspective as a disabled woman, I strive to forward proposals for peaceful and empathetic integration: practical solutions for daily irritations and challenges to common ways of considering and representing disabled people in the 21st century.
I borrow Milton’s words and “consider how my light is spent.” I reflect on my abilities, perception, and experience – and find ways to direct that light outward, to nurture a spirit of genuineness, imagination, and empathy.
I write about my disability because I value that experience. As a writer, I draw from my life because it is mine. I write about disability because there aren’t enough voices talking about disability in a way that encourages people to acknowledge our equal share in humanity. My perspective is not valuable because I’m blind—and therefore unequivocally different from you, the nondisabled or non-blind reader. My experience is valuable because it is a different perspective among people who are equally different. The norm is a myth.
I hope you enjoy what you find in this civil space.
About Emily K. Michael
Emily K. Michael is a blind poet, musician, and writing instructor from Jacksonville, FL. Since 2021, she has served as the poetry editor for Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature at Syracuse University. She is also a poetry mentor in AWP’s Writer to Writer program.
Michael’s poetry and essays have appeared in Wordgathering, The Hopper, Artemis Journal, The South Carolina Review, Nine Mile Magazine, Saw Palm, Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, Tupelo Quarterly, BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog, Barriers and Belonging, How We Get to Next, Split This Rock, Picture a Professor, Welcome to the Resistance, and AWP Writer’s Notebook.
Michael published her first chapbook Neoteny: Poems with Finishing Line Press in 2019. Neoteny contained nominees for The Atlantis Award and The Pushcart Prize. In 2021, Michael’s poem “Deficiencies,” was included in the Arts Society of Kingston’s Poetic License exhibit — next to the painting it inspired. Michael received a second nomination for The Pushcart Prize with her poem, “Because I Hired a Friend,” first published on Split This Rock. Her poems “Cello” and “Backyard By Ear” are featured in POETCHRY, an accessible outdoor exhibit in Ontario, CA.
Michael’s work centers on ecology, disability, and music. Michael is passionate about grammar, singing, medieval history, birding, and guide dogs.
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On the Blink 
I have been writing for over 30 years but only dream of writing like you do. I’m mesmerized by your choice of words – they spring to life as I make contact with them, as if in a dream state. Your language is alive. You have a gift.
Thank you, Diane, for such kind words. I appreciate you stopping by, and I hope you continue to enjoy the blog!
I’m not sure how I stumbled on your blog but I am glad I found you. I’m loving your stories of Guide Dog training – I am a volunteer puppy-raiser for Leader Dogs for the Blind. I am also a writer and my current blog documents the Leader Dog prison puppy raising program in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Thank you for sharing your stories!
Thanks so much for reading, Patti! And thank you for being a puppy raiser! I can’t wait to meet my dog’s puppy raisers in a few days.
Oh, that is so great that you can meet them! I remember the days when everything was kept secret. I think completing the circle benefits everyone. Enjoy and I look forward to reading more of your adventures with York!
Hi there Professor Michael,
Your interview on Eyes On Success was moving. I am awe struck by all your endeavors to convince the public of the need to be aware of the stereotypes we face. Good for you.
My name is Joe Kovach. Two years ago I set a new life goal to make people laugh. The vehicle I have chosen to accomplish this task is writing. I write very short funny stories. I have a sampling of them on my blog site which is still under construction, but getting there. I was hoping you might be willing to check them out, and offer me some advice.
I am new to the world of professional writing. I only know I enjoy writing them, and I hope I might bring a smile to someone’s face. My secondary goal is to generate some needed income.
Thank you for your time.
My blog site is somethingtomakeyousmileblog.wordpress.com
Oh, I also have to add that in the spring I hope to have another blog site up and running for sightless birders.