If you follow my blog you will know my family lives in Vancouver, Canada – and it may appear that we are removed from what happens with bills and acts and legislation in the US – but the reality is – we are very much affected. Sometimes a struggle, like the fight for human rights and social justice, must by necessity transcend borders. This is one of those times. I wrote this poem for H and others…

Liquid Man

 

15

I see you perched on the edge

A balanced droplet

Reflecting back the whole world

Defying gravity

Rocking softly

Regrouping

With gently swayed rhythm 

Considering

Owning your body’s movements

Choosing curled still solitude

 

 

23

I see you sliding down a wall

The edge that keeps you

Gives solace

Defining your space

You say awkward

Some might accuse: flop

(they know not)

I see ownership of liquid beauty

You puddle on the floor

Relaxed fails as a descriptor

Your words are spinning

Weaving thoughts

Spinning

And I can hardly keep up

But the vision of your

Wall water self

Exploring concrete edges

That anchor

As your thoughts

go to places far and wide

The naturalness

The beauty in the authentic

The message in that move

Is nourishment

Joy

 

 

52

I see you reflected

And reflecting

And dazzling

Water in water

Connections

Ripples felt as you move

Flowing

Seamless

Sound and movement amplified

Emotions intensified

The Butterfly Effect

Transformative

Connected in the wake

Or the wave

The pebble in the pond

Affecting one other

We pool

Liquid

Reflected

Movement

 

 

15, 23, 52

I see the silent power of your liquid ways

Refusal to be contained

Stuffed down

Boxed in

Shaking off shame’s plea for a discrete mopping

Water protests, in all its liquid forms:

Drops, tears, puddles, pools, and oceans wide

To combat the stream is folly

It is to miss the moment of perfect stillness

Where the whole world is reflected

That convex bead

Tenuous balance held forever

In the present tense of poetry

Defiant

Destined to be triumphant

This is the power of persistence…

Rail against the rock

And honour yourself in all your watery forms

Leah Kelley, March 10, 2014

This post is part of the #StopCombatingMe Flashblog scheduled for March 18, 2014.  Please visit this site to find out about submissions and to view other participating posts.

You can find more information about this action and tell Congress to reform the Combating Autism Act or to let it expire.  Sign the petition and learn more here:  http://action.autisticadvocacy.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=10412

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30 Days of Autism is a project designed to fight stigma, promote civil rights, and increase understanding and acceptance for those who process and experience the world differently.

© Leah Kelley, Thirty Days of Autism (2014)