In addition to it being National Poetry Month, April is also Autism Acceptance Month, a time to recognize and honor the beauty of diverse experiences. Yet in the middle of April, an ignorant political figure took the time to make false and hurtful claims about the autistic community. Thus, autism and rfk autism both show up on the trends list.
This month, I am exclusively sharing poems written by autistic poets. Each featured poet publicly self-identifies as autistic, and you can learn more about them in their bios or on their websites. As usual, each poem also corresponds to a popular topic that piqued our collective interest this April.
1. Autism
“Autism influences how people experience and interact with the world,” per the National Autistic Society. This can include everything from social interaction to cognitive and sensory perception. Rapt viewers have begun to learn more about autistic differences via Netflix’s hit show, Love on the Spectrum.
Lauded poet and co-founder of dis assembly: neurodivergent arts collab, Adam Wolfond uses poetry to share his unique perspective as a non-speaking autistic person. I found this breathtaking paragraph by the author in a blurb about his work, Open Book in Ways of Water:
“A man of autism answers the ways of the body much of the time and that means my body rallies the artful atmospheres that are dancing me and the real feeling can dance the atmospheres as my body presence and pace shifts other bodies to be free. Having a ticcing body is making the dance about disorder but really it is about a different and diverse way of languaging with many feelings and bathing and immersing and I don’t have any other way.”
2. Sinners
Whether filtering search trends for the last 4 hours, 48 hours, or 7 days, Sinners remains on the list. This horror movie set in the Mississippi Delta in 1932 was released on April 18th, and folks were excited about it. I’ve loosely gathered that it’s about twin brothers fighting evil in their hometown.
Poet Joanne Limburg wrote an ominous poem about a brother that could pretty easily become the plotline of a horror film—the ending is dark. Ever since my own brother terrorized me with a Freddy Kruger glove, a Nightmare on Elm St. cassette tape played in the dark, and a penchant for hiding in shadows, I’m already pretty quick to conflate brothers and horror.
3. Oblivion Remaster
Does this sound like something from the 80s or what? It’s a video game thing—specifically The Elder Scrolls—but I can’t understand much beyond that. That works fine, as one definition of oblivion shared by Cambridge dictionary reads, “a situation in which you are not aware of what is happening around you.” That’s me during this video game re-release.
Nathan Spoon’s “The Genie Speaks” gives slightly surreal, prophetic oblivion vibes if you ask me. Check out this line:
“At the foretold
moment, our other earth opens a secret hand. If
there is a purpose, we will know it soon enough,
although not knowing feels satisfactory and good”
Are you hooked? I love this poem.
4. Colossal Squids
A team of researchers recently recorded the first ever footage of a colossal squid. Previously, colossal squids were a bit like bigfoot. This new development is fascinating, and also makes me a little sad. There’s something to be said for not discovering everything on earth, for keeping some things secret, or on the periphery.
While likely meant only to describe her own experience as an autistic person, Hannah Emerson’s “Peripheral” reasonably sums up my reaction to the colossal squid footage, too.
5. World Quantum Day
April 14th was World Quantum Day. I had never heard of it. Quantum science is a vast and engrossing field with many implications. Some have used quantum science as a basis of evidence (or at least plausibility) for reincarnation.
While researching this story, I learned the word anamnesis from Leslie McIntosh, who published a poem by that title. Google tells me that anamnesis refers to memories from a supposed previous existence. Very quantum, right?
In the end, April was mysterious and profound. It provided opportunities to view life from new perspectives, which is also an essential function of poetry. No wonder it was National Poetry Month, too.
Most likely, the world as we know it will continue on in May, but it probably depends on quantum physics and maybe colossal squid—I’m not sure.
Written by Allisonn Church
Allisonn Church was born in a small rural community to a mother who pinned butterflies in glass cases and hid scarab beetles in her jewelry box. Her first favorite poem was “The Willow Fairy”’ by Cicely Mary Barker. Find a list of Allisonn's published work at churchpoems.wordpress.com.