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moon brother

by isobel 

Posted: 29 October 2005
Word Count: 205
Summary: Children's poem about autism


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Moon Brother


I used to like to lie in bed
watching my brother tucked in safe.
And fancy while we slept,he
slid from his cot,
shimmied up through the window.
Scaling the polishedroof tops,
oblivious to the night wind uplifting his baby's hair,
stepping deftly on to the poplar branches,
white sleepsuit luminous against the sky:staring out into dark space.

Then by an imaginary leap,
he'd reach the stars,
using them as stepping stones
to hop on to the moon,

and he'd sit, and begin to spin, an extraordinary thread,from the colours of the moon.

He doesn't sleep in my room in a cot anymore
nor can he wear white sleepsuits.
He screams in his colour clashing nursery
stuffing fingers in ears at the jangling day.
or sits on a cushion staring at a model railway.
To be absoloutely sure its certain of its way.
There's hushed conversation in grown up rooms,
which stops, when they know I'm there,
There are titters in the playground that my brother cannot bear.

But I think one day we'll all wake up early, gasp,point and stare, at my brother luminous against the sky doing things we'd never dare.
Sitting, spinning extraordinary thread from the colours of the moon.







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Comments by other Members



joanie at 19:45 on 30 October 2005  Report this post
Hi, isobel, and welcome. I wonder whether this is really a children's poem; I think it is much more adult - we understand so little about this condition. What wonderful lines close this; it is just so positive!

stuffing fingers in ears at the jangling day
speaks to me; I have dealings with autistic children in my work and there are such problems with the fire alarm!!

Very thought-provoking.

joanie

isobel at 15:38 on 02 November 2005  Report this post
Thank you joanie, that's interesting. I spend all day working with autistic children,perhaps its my own perspective that Ive been writing from...

CeliaB at 07:57 on 04 January 2006  Report this post
Hi Isobel,

This is a wonderfully poignant poem. I have limited experience of working with autistic children, but recognise the messages coming through.
[But I think one day we'll all wake up early, gasp,point and stare, at my brother luminous against the sky doing things we'd never dare.
Sitting, spinning extraordinary thread from the colours of the moon.]

I love this last section - recognises how much potential there may be - hidden from those who don't know.

Excellent.

Celia

Felmagre at 08:32 on 01 March 2006  Report this post
The imagery is very thought provoking. I wonder, however if this might not prove to be more prose than poetry as the underlying rythem appears to be missing somehow. Then again that may simply be the way I am reading it, my internal beat so to speak.

Just a thought.


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