By Dana Trick
Autistic Diagnosis
The explanation of
My life.
The reasoning of
My weirdness.
The justification for
My getting help.
The solution of
My struggles
The assertion of
My existence.
The acceptance of
Myself.
Autistic Medication
The little life-hack strategies
And expensive therapies
are only the half of it.
The pill paradox—
1) Smoothing out the negative edges of my autism
and blooming the beautiful parts of it.
OR
2) Muddy and swirl my autism’s beauty and negatives to nothing
While I lose myself inside the drowsy fog.
I am one of the ones
That has to take them,
But I drown in silent echoes of
“CHEATER CHEATER CHEATER!”
Whispered among everyone.
Stuck between a chaotic chorus—
The melody screeching
“TAKE MEDS, TAKE MEDS,”
As the harmony screams
“DON’T TAKE MEDS, DON’T TAKE MEDS.”
I fear it, I hate it,
I need it.
Dana resides in Moorpark, California. She spends too much of her time reading books (fantasy, fiction, history, poetry, comics), drawing weird things that suddenly appear in her head, writing stories and poems and listening to a strange assortments of music genres that she isn’t sure what type of music fan she is.
Art work by Dana Trick
