for Amy Winehouse
The forever young are held in a pair of parentheses
made out of 27 years;
the ageless are collected within the arms of Saturn,
exhaling breath at his baleful return.
Each of you has a life cycle,
you all follow the same path from birth to death.
You first enter as a little bright light, a tiny pinpoint of sparkle;
you part the curtain, hiding as white dwarfs behind this
ringed gas giant, fearful of his mythical jaws.
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The newest version of the video for my poem, “You Don’t See It”, is now available on Youtube. This is the version that first aired at the April 2, 2011 Awe in Autism Live Event. Included in the video is some of my own artwork specially created for the poem. Watch below. I hope you like it. 
Hellow RWP Readers!
My poem, “A Theology of an Autistic Body“, was published yesterday in qarrtsiluni. You can also hear me reading the poem on the podcast for that day on its website.
Qarrtsiluni is an online journal of poetry, prose, and art which publishes themed issues each quarter, with one poem/piece of prose/piece of artwork per day during each issue. This poem was published as part of the imprisonment issue — the contributors for that issue examine the idea of confinement, either voluntarily or involuntarily. “A Theology”, for me, is a statement about the sometimes voluntarily withdrawal that I sometimes need as an adult with Asperger’s Syndrome.
So, go check it out…as well as the rest of the fine pieces in the latest issue
Greetings, RWP Readers!
One of my poems, “Lamppost Hierophant” was published today at Shift Journal. It had been written for Sam Drezner, the son of documentary filmmaker Todd Drezner. His latest documentary, “Loving Lampposts” takes a look at his son’s autism, neurodiversity, and the current autism debates.
Go check out the poem. And while you’re at it, take a look at the rest of Shift Journal as well. It’s an eclectic publications whose contributors attempt to define autism as a legitimate way of being in the world.
I am taking notes
at a fantastic rock-n-roll concert
going on in my head
I always take notes
when the visions come
projectors singing in my head
throw up the screen
and let the film play itself onto it
in endless maddening loops –
freeze frame, focus in on an image
and magnify until the colors rain
into my hands
until voltage notes rain
into my hands
blue and black
royal and midnight
and now, the ceremony has begun
the hills embrace the throng like arms
they gather amidst the green
while the moon assents to the sounds below her
with her own pale light
the night and the people
gather together in thickness
beat like a pulse
hands reach up, trying to
grab the passing purple magic
bodies become pinwheels
warp space and time around them
as they dance an old dervish pattern
while the music spins them on invisible axes
all together now give up the ghost
release wine into air around them and
get drunk on the ecstasy dripping down
in the drenched air
rapt and nearly carried beyond
in my own delirium
I grab the words
I grab the colors
and attempt to translate
this music is a pure expression of joy
another night has ended
with a vision in my hands
Written 7/7 and 7/12/11
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Greetings! I haven’t written any poems in a while but I was intrigued by the latest We Write Poems Prompt. Viv suggested this week that we try to write a poem in someone else’s voice…in someone else’s shoes. It could be a person, an animal, an inanimate object…anything you like, as long as you leave your own voice at the door.
I’ve done persona poems a number of times, but in many cases I’ve always felt as if each one was still my own words. This time I tried my damnedest to leave my own voice at the door. It was tricky, especially considering my chosen subject — I revisited Jim Morrison this week, using two of his quotes and jumping off of them to write a poem (“I was taking notes at a fantastic rock-n-roll concert in my head” and “music is the pure expression of joy”). Comments are more than welcome — please tell me how you think I did. And I hope you enjoyed the poem.
-Nicole
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