Piet Devos

PIET DEVOS

The Crip Song, 2023

Piet Devos lost his sight at the age of five due to retinal cancer. His experiences with illness and disability profoundly shaped who he became: as a person, a poet, a writer, a researcher, and an activist for a more inclusive and sustainable world. From an early age, he encountered the fragility of life, as well as the richness of bodies and perspectives that deviate from the norm. Above all, Piet was driven by the desire to tell stories that are as yet untold or lost. Piet Devos collaborated with Wit.h vzw to introduce the concept of “crip”. In 2023, he wrote The Crip Song.

The Crip Song

Sever the time

that spans your life

between symptom and prognosis,

between therapy and progress,

between hopeless and better to have not lived at all.

Celebrate your difference,

against the indifference

of cold lists,

resisting the yardsticks

held against you,

the labels and stamps

that never got you,

standards you

could only defy.

Celebrate your difference

with your delay and your weight,

the kinks in your train of thought,

around the shame

toward that curious interplay,

in the pain and pleasure

of being a body beloved.

Crumple, yes crumple the arts

drum with your only hand

dance your spasms

sculpt your blind gaze

gesture your verses

and populate above all

museums stages agora

with wrinkled real people!

© Piet Devos

Celebrate your difference