Poetry, Autism, and Statistics, Oh My!
Hello! I’m happy to share that my poem, Autismville, won the Songs of Eretz Readers Choice Award Contest, and another of my poems, 7 AM, came in second! If you’d like to see the official announcement, you can click HERE If you voted in the contest, thank you, thank you! This is an international contest, […]
Am I blue?
Hello, I’m re-posting this poem I wrote last year about Autism Awareness Day, which is April 2. If you know someone with autism, today is a great day to acknowledge them. Tomorrow works, too, or next week, or anytime. If they like deep pressure, give them a big, squeezy hug. If they don’t like to […]
April is….
Autism Awareness Month: Day 1 Dear Reader, You may have noticed that I write about life with my daughter, whose blog name is Bink, on a regular basis. There are poems, and stories, and sometimes pictures of her scribbles, and an occasional photo of her from the back, or from a distance. I am […]
Your Repose
I’m pleased to share this poem, which made its debut yesterday, in the Songs of Eretz Poetry Journal. I’ve included my poet’s notes, which that particular editor requires, as well as his comments. I’m grateful to add another poem to my list of published work. I’m also thankful for the support of my dear readers! […]
Returning to Autismville
Good day! Below, the second of three of my poems that are eligible for the Readers Choice Award over at Songs of Eretz. Here is the poem, along with the Editor’s words and poets notes from the journal: Editor’s Note: Nominees for the Songs of Eretz Readers Choice Award have been or will be […]
7 AM, Redux
Dear Reader, I’m so pleased to share my first of three finalist poems from the Songs of Eretz poetry contest. Though I didn’t win first place this year, each finalist poem is eligible for the Reader’s Choice Award. Steve Wittenburg Gordon, the Editor of Songs of Eretz, published the poem and the following commentary on […]
Inappropriate THIS
Inappropriate this I love Caillou. For those who are unacquainted, this is a cartoon show about a little boy by this name, geared to toddlers. “Yes,and….” you might say. Well, my twenty-five year old daughter loves Caillou, too. That statement might seem unusual in the world of “typicals,” those whose wiring is neurologically consistent with […]
The Man in the Grocery Line
Certain special needs are invisible, or really hard to spot. This can include Autism, in some people. That isn’t Bink’s reality, though. Anyone of the neurotypical persuasion who takes more than a minute to observe my adult daughter will understand that something’s up. The way she carries herself, her frequent self-talk and singing, her hands […]
BRIDGES
We are pausing on a bridge over the dwindling stream that crawls through our large, local dollop of green, Bird Park, because we always pause, she and I, on every little bridge that spans any river anywhere, so she can look down from first one side, then the other, at that liquid light which is […]
In Times Like These: Silver Linings of Caregiving
THANK YOU, TEDIUM In the midst of the interminable news; all-bad-all-the-time, chaos and tragedy, aftermath and predictions, close ups and sound bites that feed worry and starve hope, invite helplessness, inside this swirl, this modern quotidian, there is something else, not exactly calm, but steadier ground, and I, who have recently allowed my own […]