About Me

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Bristol , United Kingdom
I'm co-director of the Leaping Word Poetry Consultancy, which provides advice for poets on writing, editing and publishing, as well as qualified counselling support for those exploring personal issues in their work - https://theleapingword.com. My fifth poetry collection, Learning Finity, is now available from Indigo Dreams or directly from me.

Saturday 18 June 2011

A Poem for Autistic Pride Day - Prognosis

In celebration of neurodiversity, a poem ... 




Prognosis

for J and S


No functioning intelligence.

No meaningful relationships.

Mute.  Forever closed off from the world.

I remind myself of this

as my daughter
bounds across the concourse,
waving her essay on Citizen Kane,

as my son delivers his lines,
word-perfect,
in bathers and rubber ring.

He’s the star of the panto.

Oh no he isn’t. 

OH YES HE IS!!



Deborah Harvey © 2010 , 2011






1 comment:

  1. This poem just makes me smile. Ah doctors, what do they know, really??? they simply don't account for belief and persistence and bloody-minded determination. Not to mention children who don't know they're not supposed to thrive.

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