First…Then… the book

So the 24 autism poems on this blog are going to be in a book. The title was originally going to be CircleQuirk but I have changed it to First…Then… after the most popular poem in the collection.

The book is coming out in April 2012 (Autism Awareness Month) and will be published by Ginninderra Press. At that point I will be taking most of the poems down and providing a link to where you can buy the book.

Between now and then they will remain here, free of charge for anyone to read (still copyright (c) Melinda Smith though ). While they are all still here, I thought it might be helpful to have a Table of Contents page linking to the poems in the order they appear in the book (which is different to the order they were written and posted on this blog in).

So here ’tis. Enjoy. And I should remember to thank ArtsACT for supporting me one day a week while I wrote the poems.

First… Then… | poems from planet autism

Table of Contents

Poetry appearing on this blog was generously supported by the ACT Government

First…Then…

Brain Weather

Autistic Acrostic

Beach cricket with four year old

autistic child with acute auditory processing disorder

what the child hears

I prefer

What I learned at school

Asperger’s diagnosis: a fugue

Not the Botany Bay Song

A prehistory of autism

On holding the baby of a friend

But

Social Stories for Neurotypical Adults #27: No Dogs Allowed

All magpies are autistic

The impossible blindfold

Love song of autistic husband

An autistic woman explains the terror of affection

Shechinah – or God and Temple Grandin

AUTISM CRUMPETS

I have autism

I am autistic

AutisTweets

#autismtshirtslogans

#autismtshirtslogans

The following poem is the result of my one and only attempt to start a Twitter hashtag.  If you have no idea what that last sentence means, don’t worry, you can still appreciate the poem.  For those of you down with the TwitSpeak, suffice it to say it did not really take off.  But I did get a few retweets and comments, which helped me work out which were the funniest slogans.

Poetry appearing on this page was generously supported by the ACT Government

Here they are – Happy New Year !

#autismtshirtslogans

I’m not melting down, I’m venting

At least my Chewy Tube doesn’t cause lung cancer

So I like to climb things.  So what ?  Higher is better.  There are no haters up there

I understand NASCAR racing on a much deeper level than you

Your need for spontaneity is exhausting me

Time for a trampoline break !

School?  Hell?  Tough choice.  At least you get to do fun stuff before they put you in hell

Well ?  How many digits can *you* recite Π to ?

If you can read this, you need to gently remind me about personal space