Autism “Awareness” and May Flowers

This is my THANK YOU to all who lived through yet another April with Autism Awareness, the bewareness and woes.

It’s May now.

My garden is blooming because you were there with me.

 May Flowers

It is said that April showers

Bring May flowers

What does April ableist rain

Bring to my life’s garden?

 

I see weeds of compliance,

I see rocks of hate

Thrown through the glass of my greenhouse

 

Scattered shards cutting,

Hurting the leaves struggling to breathe

 

The ground covered with trash

Left behind by the Vandals For Normalization

 

But that’s not all April left behind

 

Despite the mocking days and dismissive weeks

May flowers still color my garden.

 

Strengthened by humor, satire and art

Of my friends and their own colorful gardens

Words turn into music, they ease my pain.

 

Even in silence my friends learn

How to exhale

They, too, survive

 

Supported by friends who don’t own a garden

But who learn the peculiarities of mine

Observing its colors

Listening to its sounds

Valuing its existence

 

Nurtured by other gardens owners

Gardens who have different colors

They bring water and nutrients

They share the knowledge of gardening

They stay and protect my flowers

When my resolve seems weakened

 

My garden has flowers

 

And I hear the messaging birds

Singing to me that all around

Despite April, despite the pain

Young gardens are blooming

With beauty and pride

 

Copyright 2016 by Amy Sequenzia