A Poem For Poetry & Autism Awareness Month

The Kindness Of A Stranger   

Our son (four years old, autistic) often
Yelled loud and then even louder:
After his diagnosis, pretty much every
Shred of normalcy took a powder.

Life with Jeremy was a buffet of panic
Wreaking havoc every day
And caused most people who we knew
To all silently drift away.

We desperately tried to hold onto what
Was left, yet while
We did just this, we still found ourselves
In unwanted exile

Which as the years passed by we did
Eventually learn
That this was a place from which you
Never fully return.

Many familiar ties were cut --- a loneliness
Hard to forget.
My wife & I then reached out to someone
We’d never met.

*

The man who got our letter knew we were
At the end of our rope.
He said talk to professionals and be sure to
Never give up hope.

He actually wrote us two letters: an amazing
Thing to have done.
The first one was meant for us but the second
One was to our son.

We didn’t realize right away that this man
Thought we would need
To imagine that our autistic son someday
Would actually read.

From such kindness can come strength
To banish fears,
Its repercussions felt and remembered
For years & years.

*

Hold on --- my bad --- I buried the lead.
I should’ve already said
This stranger’s last name was Rogers &
His first name was Fred.

(He might dispute the term “stranger” and it
Would take some getting used to:
Let’s say we were people in his neighborhood
He hadn’t yet been introduced to.)

It’s worth noting something now and
Not in any way that’s cursory.
2018’s a big landmark for his TV show:
It’s the fiftieth anniversary.

My 31 year-old son has a talking computer:
Jeremy’s good at multi-tasking.
Can he read? Oh, yeah. Of course. You bet.
(By the way, thanks for asking.)

Mr. Rogers died in 2003 but doesn’t seem gone.
For me, what he achieved in
Those two letters was passing along hope that
We hadn’t dared to believe in.

His spirit now lives in all those who recall him.
If you’re wondering could this
Great man could be summed up briefly? Sure:
The embodiment of goodness.

April Multi-tasks As The Awareness Month For Poetry & Autism

From A To Z                                    

While driving in the car with my son
(Who has autism) it may get
To a point where to calm him down,
I suggest he recite the alphabet.

Jeremy’s thirty, so sometimes just
What my wife and I are doing
May seem a peculiar avenue at this
Point for us to be pursuing.

We alternate saying each letter and this
Does help him relax
Simultaneously reminding the three of us
Of a few basic facts

Like how the English-speaking world uses
These symbols in heavy rotation
In our ongoing attempts with other people
To engage in communication.

When we do these duets of the ABCs ---
A father and a son and a mother ---
We’re in touch on a granular level with
How people reach out to each other.

This is the best way I can describe this and
I hope this can bring about for you
The gist of what I’m thinking. If not, there’s
No other way to spell it out for you.

 

Having A Child With Autism Is Like Moving To Another Country

(Editor's Note: April is Autism and
Poetry Awareness Month.)


You arrive one day on a detour
To these rather distant shores
Where you fail to recognize any
Of the names of local stores.

The language (of course) is foreign
Utterly peculiar to your ear
But you soon begin to pick it up with
A new word there and here.

Eventually, it seems normal. You see
The rose, not just the thorn there.
You keep adjusting and then wind up
Feeling like you were born there.