Slime Mold Worlds
you oh assemblage and me here
this universe
my lung balloons kidney deltas wide expanse of my liver cells that suck push pull me to you and you you you build a city in what I call my home
you live with me oh unrelated eukaryotic organisms
montage world of yous that hail my we my ever expanse my name too many in my gut eye homeground of the red Mars canals of my fingertips
we all like the damp moisture on external membranes supple open
this universe
near-microscopic I am a giant to you
my eye naked your spore adrift
we meet
you and I scale through the universe live with one another
amoeba’s pseudopod extends a tender foray
this universe
let me fruit with you
my touch deposits you on this old wooden table fruiting body kisses
marks an old Welsh farmer left when he smoothed this plank now swollen wet cellulose fans out
multiply build a city of bridges
sustainable infrastructures shuttle breakdown toward futures
chemicals signal safety or retreat
release drift freely
this universe
you and we and I direct passage this pass along old lives in decay
my wheelchair wheel crushes old crusts bloom in glory
you differentiate your yous aggregate thicken this cushion on bench windowsill moist jelly to my finger
grow a stalk to the light rear your sporangium this nest of the future toward wind my touch your journey
this universe
here
Petra Kuppers is a disability culture activist, writer, dance video maker, and community performance artist. Petra grounds herself in disability culture methods. She uses somatics, performance, speculative writing, visual arts, and media to engage audiences toward more socially just and enjoyable futures. She teaches at the University of Michigan as the Anita Gonzalez Collegiate Professor of Performance Studies and Disability Culture. Petra also writes speculative fiction (short story collection: Ice Bar, 2018), and academic books (latest, 2022, award-winning and open access: Eco Soma: Joy and Pain in Speculative Performance Encounters). She is currently a Just Tech Fellow (2024-2026), working on Planting Disabled Futures, a ‘crip cave’ experience that combines eco soma community performance, disability culture, and virtual reality.
Header photo of slime mold plasmodium by Ernie Cooper, courtesy Shutterstock.
