Tag Archives: Autism Poetry

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My Poem, “A Theology of An Autistic Body” Published in qarrtsiluni

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 :)

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My Poem “Lamppost Hierophant” Published in Shift Journal

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.

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My Poem, “Color (A Modest Plea)” Republished at Autism and Empathy

Hey folks! My poem, “Color (A Modest Plea)” was republished at the brand new Autism and Empathy website today. The website is dedicated to busting myths and debunking the common stereotype that autistic people are incapable of empathy. Go check it out!

-Nicole

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My Poem, “Color (A Modest Plea)” Published at Shift Journal

Greetings! My poem, “Color (A Modest Plea)“, was published today in Shift Journal of Alternatives: Neurodiversity and social change.

As you might surmise from the journal’s title, the journal’s premise is that autism has existed all along and it entertains “the notion of autistic as a legitimate way to be in the world, from the crossroads of theory, society, and personal experience”.

The poem was inspired by a piece by Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg of Journeys with Autism which appeared earlier this month in Shift Journal, “An Open Letter to Robert MacNeil Regarding PBS’ Autism Now Series“. I used the same quote by Robert MacNeil from the series to jump-start this poem as one of my NaPoWriMo poems. Please jog over to Shift Journal to read it, and check out the many other contributions in the journal about autism and neurodiversity.

-Nicole

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NaPoWriMo Poem #13: Pretending to Be Normal (Eye Contact)

If you try to look into my eyes
you might succeed, if only for a moment
until I feel your gaze incise
and my skin wires buzz with too much current.
Continue reading →

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NaPoWriMo #2: Lamppost Hierophant

for Sam Drezner

There are four of them.
Each day, the sun rises and warms our faces in the East.
Each day, we breathe out the smoke of our spirits until it is spent.
And each day, you are divining these lampposts.
Continue reading →

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Big Tent/WWP Poem #42: The Way Back Home

Perhaps
if I could unravel the threads that ever live behind my skin, I could
find it. There are so many exposed, raw and frayed ends,
and as I have said before,
I pull on them so that you don’t. Watch me
pull away this sweater of a skin, blow the dust off
my bones, and climb the stairs to an attic
that ever collects: there is nothing sacred and safe
from being stolen from walls, from projector screens,
or from the air. Everything is carried home, purloined
beneath the archway of my arm,
slumbering against ribs cradled with adipose and skin,
nestled in the crook of my elbow.
Continue reading →

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WWP Poem #30: Paint by Numbers

i. zero

Nobody knows that this thing
isn’t a bandit: it doesn’t seize you suddenly
and leave you awash in open wire and stereo speakers
jammed into your ears. There is only the
curious brown baby, eyes like cameras,
with a wound-up roll of film for a brain.
Continue reading →

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WWP Poem #27: Fifteen

You, perceptive enough to pick up
all the half-rhymes hanging out in your stomach;

you, with a galvanized ear leading to tubules
that course straight up into your brain;

you, possessing databanks built out of flesh
humming in data process heaven just behind your bone walls;
Continue reading →

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WWP Poem #26: Back Door Blues

I.

I’ve been collecting music and pouring it into the coffers of my brain
since I was fifteen. It took a few years for me to understand
that the stereo inside my cranial walls needed more stuff to spin, so I
reached out in raven-claw fashion, stealing everything
I could get my ears on. Trailing behind me is the umbra
of a greedy teenage girl trapped in a good two-shoes, church girl headlock
while sneaking sonic pleasures through the back door of
her ears. Hey all you people that tryin’ to sleep,
I’m out to make it with my midnight dream.
Continue reading →

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WWP Poem #19: Dear Earthling

You’d think me rude, but I’d just stand and stare
while grocery store aisles used to jostle together,
every box and can a hungry puzzle piece
looking for its partner;
or the colors on every shirt, sweater, pant, and shoe
in every department store peeled themselves apart from their host
in paint by numbers precision and begged for my eye
to roll call. You’d think me strange,
Continue reading →

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NaPoWriMo Poem #28: Letter to My Father

Dear Dad: have you ever seen the
burning blade, the straight edge of a knife’s
tongue? From this, we are branded with bruises. This silence,
this tradition of disguise, is a generational curse,
a baton passed from Grandma to you to
me – and I am still running.
Continue reading →