The Duck: An Autistic Play

I’m in hiding. I don’t have time to be in hiding, it’s possibly the worst thing I could be doing at the moment, and yet hiding is where I am. I feel like I opened the floodgates because a beautiful butterfly fluttered by, and now the waters are rising and I can’t get the … Continue reading The Duck: An Autistic Play

Autscriptic: Mild Autism

In 2016 I wrote a post that seemed to capture people’s imagination in a way that others didn’t. Autscriptic has since been shared far and wide. It taught me that there is great power in sharing conversations between neurotypes: Laying bare the misunderstandings that tangle us up. The first Autscriptic was about the trials of … Continue reading Autscriptic: Mild Autism

The Power of ‘Can’ over ‘Should’

I love words. I love how they roll around my tongue and catch on my teeth. I love how they dangle and splutter and sometimes struggle to find their way out. Last week I did something new. I entered poems in a competition that required a reading. It was easy enough, I signed my name … Continue reading The Power of ‘Can’ over ‘Should’

Waves

https://youtu.be/1XJRhIzyU0o Waves Did you ever let the whole world in With a thought? Were you ever told that one wave on the beach Was the important one And though you tried to catch it It was drowned in the crashes and splashes All around? Autism isn't separate and distant, It's a connection to everything; The … Continue reading Waves

The Autistic

Written and performed by... well... me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvgeXCyifJQ&feature=share

Autism Poetry

I always struggle to write poetry specifically about autism. How do you write about a process? You end up bogged down in the behaviours that result from it, instead of the thing you were trying to focus on. These are last night's headscribbles. I hope you enjoy them. When I try to write About the … Continue reading Autism Poetry

Mother’s Day

I'm not a lover of cards. In fact I loathe them. Little demanders of time and obligation. They sit there demanding to be bought and written and sent as tokens of love. And I don't. I don't send them, because they don't mean anything to me. Particularly at set times of year. An arbitrary day … Continue reading Mother’s Day

National Poetry Day

I've been playing with poetry recently, and since its national poetry day I'm going to pop this one up. I had written it for a specific competition, but my executive function issues got in the way, and I ended up missing the deadline. Ah well. It's an attempt at a Welsh style called a Cynghanedd … Continue reading National Poetry Day

Daisy Chains

In a field of wheat I'm a daisy. The stalks grow close and suffocating, Their shade starves me, Their paper touch deserts me. When the wind blows and they move in waves I cannot bend with them. I watch them move together, Beautiful and swirling, As they jostle my leaves. I am a daisy in … Continue reading Daisy Chains

Autscriptic

You don't look autistic. Yes I do. You don't act autistic though. Yes I do. Yeah, but you're not like "properly" autistic. Yes I am. You can make eye contact. Yes I can. You don't flap all the time. I do at birds. You flap at birds? I flap at birds. Why do you flap … Continue reading Autscriptic