| autistic boy
|
jumpoline
| down the playground | 1 |
mulch | 2 |
between my toes | 3 |
painful | 4 |
but i like it. | 5 |
| |
left arm arcing brian | 6 |
towards the willow, up | 7 |
skyward; | 8 |
i am daring god | 9 |
to take him | 10 |
back. | 11 |
| |
five long years | 12 |
never said a | 13 |
single word, still | 14 |
craps himself. | 15 |
fifty grand | 16 |
a year for | 17 |
silent drool. | 18 |
| |
at three | 19 |
he was still cute | 20 |
running off with toys | 21 |
flapping like a pelican | 22 |
chewing on his | 23 |
sopping sleeve; | 24 |
now all we get is | 25 |
the evil eye | 26 |
out here. | 27 |
| |
the sun's going down; | 28 |
i'll kick back soon | 29 |
catch the hot body contest | 30 |
on hbo, play with my balls. | 31 |
i dare my wife to | 32 |
say something. | 33 |
|
15 May 07 |
Rated 8.5 (8) by 19 users.
Active (19): 1, 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
Inactive (14): 1, 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
(define the words in this poem)
(13 more poems by this author)
(12 users consider this poem a favorite)
|
Add A Comment:
|
Comments:
no criticisms of this. It's gut punch of a poem. well done!
— netskyIam
I can only empathize.
Such a heart-wrenching poem,
the guilt, blame, love, confusion..."daring god to take him back", oh how sad.
I know of the flapping pelican, although my 7yr old bird is a different breed.
Thank you for writing,
Jen-
— jenakajoffer
thanks for reading netskyiam, jenakajoffer.
— jumpoline
f-ing awesome!
-elgecko
— unknown
no nits. just awe.
— midare
thank you for your kind words, elgecko, midare.
— jumpoline
L's 28 through 33 are killer. Very masculinely charged writing. The images woven throughout are pretty killer too. I don't know much about autism, but after seeing the movie, "House of Cards," I can sort of imagine. I'm glad that Jen got to read this too. I might consider a space between L's 31 & 32. I think it would separate the two thoughts rather than just leave them jammed together. Excellent writing. :-)
— starr
thank you, starr.
— jumpoline
Did you have no caps on purpose and if so, for what purpose?
What a sad poem, how special for this person that you take him for happy outings. You brought us along to see the struggle as time marches on.
— Isabelle5
i write with no caps because
a. i am lazy
b. i like the way it looks
c. i like as little punctuation as possible because i think line breaks are king and i like readers to find their own voice without my prodding
d. i think it makes me seem hip like ee cummings
mostly d.
if anyone ever gives you a different answer to that question, i guarantee they are full of horseshit.
— jumpoline
e.e. cummings wrote some sweet shit. :-)
— starr
yes he did.
— jumpoline
your answers to Isabelle are wonderful,
especially (a). lol
I had to read this poem again,
it means a lot to me to see others write of a topic
so close to my life,
regardless of the differences in severity.
thank you.
— jenakajoffer
love your boy. children are.
— jumpoline
hmm my brother's one of these.
— ruyi
How sad! I understand the frustration and guilt you feel for feeling so frustrated. You put it into poetry well. No crit to give except in L31, what is hbo?
I would ask you to capitalize and punctuate where appropriate but read the answer you gave to Isabelle! Your honesty is refreshing and amusing!
— angrychick
hbo is home box office a cable channel in the us.
— jumpoline
Oh. Nothing to say. I love L6-11.
— skinnyJon
appreciate your words.
— jumpoline
three days ago this poem made me start writing something.
one thousand words later, here am i to comment. it is a high art. this one furthers the greater good because someone somewhere was in a lot of pain and it may not have been you at all, but it didnt go to waste, the pain. dassall. tanks.
— OKcomputer
Something all of the thirteen year old poets on this site can apperciate...
— unknown
i like the poem up until the last stanza, its not that i don't like the stanza itself, it just kills the mood of the poem i think.
— MrFetus
Hi jumpoline
some of the lines here are absolute stand outs. 4th stanza heart rending.
Larry
— larrylark
painfully effecting
— skyline
How pathetic that this is considered a good poem.
— unknown
I think that this is a wonderful poem. I have seen what autistic people go through, and I can really appreciate your poem.
— unknown
6-11 are the greatest
this is wonderful.
— madderhatter
You know what I really like about this? It's not all the touching verses about the boy, which are great, by the way-it's the characterization of the father. Brilliant, especially lines 9-11 and the very last stanza. It took me out of the "here's the typical way I feel I should feel about autism and those who have it" into the head of someone who lives with the experience daily, who loves his kid, but who's tired, exasperated, and bewildered. Excellent work. I hope you consider this for publication.
— blee73
appreciate your words. thank you for reading, blee.
respectfully,
— jumpoline
Growth happens when correcting the negatives, not when applauding the positives.
— unknown
gee thanks master woo.
— jumpoline
...therefore growth is subdued by mockery and sarcasm.
— unknown
please go on
— jumpoline
nice face
too bad about the growth
— unknown
uh huh
— unknown
yeah uh huh
— jumpoline
intelligent. selfish. honest. 10
— amaviena
thanks
— unknown
This is honest! Angry and a little sinister! Read Re-inventing us for a little perspective! Great stuff though!
— unknown
makes me ache...
for the wife
for the son
for the father
in that order
— unknown
a friend from years back told me we're all autistic.
i drool at the memory and fact.
favorite.
— fractalcore
master woo...
that's great
— chuckle_s
oh yeah
it's a nice poem although i'd be inclined to put a space between 2 and 3, and 4 and 5.
good luck to ya
— chuckle_s
poetry doing what it does best, takes me outside my life, leaves it on one side, and punches me in the belly. hurts , but reminds me i am alive after all.
— crimsonkiss
Excelllent poem. Keep writing stream of conscious style, you are very good at it. The second stanza chokes me up and the last stanza shows how something like this can pull a couple a part.
Lucy
— mnemosyne
love it, doubt it's honest, but very clever poem
— smcyrone
maybe i just hope its not honest, lines 4&5 are the only things id tweak, anyone else with me on that?
— smcyrone
Oooh... hot shit. I love it.
I would connect the "dare" sections to be more concrete and tie into each other for more consistency.
Other than that... this is flawless. Good stuff.
If this is reality-based, I'm sorry about your struggle. I'm sure it is really hard for you and I admire your strength and tenacity. Luckily, there is a LOT more support out there and an immense book of research on the disorder compared with a few years ago. My prayers are with you...
— aforbing
Absolutely an awesome write. Nothing more to say on that.
However, your response to the question regarding why you write without caps I also thought was an awesome write. :) In fact, there may be a poem buried within it. I used to write that way as well and though you may think it's horseshit I did it mostly because I think that the word 'I' (being a pronoun) really never deserved a capital. We don't capitalize 'she' and we only see 'he' capitalized in reference to God so I found it rather vain to capitalize 'I'. I also did it due to the reasons you listed as b and c. As for ee cummings, I never really gave it any thought.
— nakedowl
Like? it. Packs a brutal punch. Has the bitter taste of truth. Not sure about how the the last stanza connects to the rest.
— jarvick
Very powerful voice and images. Line 27 is fantastic! There really is a place called "out here" when you are working closely with an autistic child. The poem brings us to the edge of "out here" but no further. Very frustrating indeed.
After line 27 the poem seems to lose its focus. Maybe it was intentional on your part but the last stanza seems to weaken an otherwise powerful poem.
As for capitalization- whatever floats your boat.
Thanks for the great read.
— frogpond
totally powerful!
— unknown
appreciate the comments
— unknown
how do you think it connects jarvic im curious as to your thoughts. im serious. im not able to be objective like you.
— unknown
just revisiting.
...beautiful...
: )
— fractalcore
wow, it really puts the harshness of the disorder into reality...
makes others see the difficulty of parenting these children
— RoseOnAWall
this is fucking great. i really like this good job.
— lostkid
great line breaks, great voice, very well written.... nice work
— MCulyer
thanks.
— jumpoline
|
|
|