zompist bboard

Here's a poem by me, about Asperger's.


Don't try to have me tarred
'Cause I'm not a retard
We're simply the Aspies
Who are not very graspy
Of nonverbal cues
Change has us singing the blues
We Aspies can be greats
We're Einsteins and Gates
We like to get obese
And eat lots of cheese
We're not South Park's Timmy
Just because we're stimmy
We're flapping our hands
We think Star Trek is grand
We speak fluent Klingon
We don't try to be "kewl" or put bling on
We're square and we're proud
We're out with the out-crowd
We need routine, or else we'll die
Special interests get us by
We don't like to be hugged
But as teens, peers don't pressure us into using drugs
We excel in STEM fields
When our IQs are revealed
They come out to 188
Silly NTs, having Asperger's is gr-r-r-r-reat!

_________________
"trilobite-dragons, fuck yeah!"
-Torco

It might go well as a rap or something, but I don't like it as a poem. Also, I wouldn't use the word "retard" because that conveys an attitude of pushing down other mentally/behavioral divergent people or being callous to people with low intelligence.

_________________
ìtsanso, God In The Mountain, may our names inspire the deepest feelings of fear in urkos and all his ilk, for we have saved another man from his lies! I welcome back to the feast hall kal, who will never gamble again! May the eleven gods bless him!

It sounds unnervingly like the kind of thing I'd write, perhaps it's just the Aspie style? I mean it's fun to read and all but I wouldn't say it's great.

_________________


First known on here as Karero

I've seen a poem kind of like this before about bipolar disorder.

_________________
Dibotahamdn duthma jallni agaynni ra hgitn lakrhmi.
Amuhawr jalla vowa vta hlakrhi hdm duthmi xaja.
Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro.

Just in case it didn't bother you enough already, I'm pretty sure it was written by someone who diagnosed themselves as bipolar without consulting a specialist. I doubt that they continued to believe this very seriously for long.

It's a bit reductive, given that plenty of people with Asperger's syndrome don't have all of these traits: in fact, I suspect quite a few people with it have hardly any of them. Risk of contributing further to unhelpful stereotypes? Particularly unsure about the "obese"/"cheese" thing - are these really traits that are particularly associated with the syndrome?

It's fine as a poem on a purely technical level, I think, though some of the rhymes are rather too strained for my liking (others are not "perfect" rhymes by any means, but nevertheless work fine in the context of the poem as a whole, and maybe contribute something extra to it that would be absent with more conventionally acceptable couplets).

_________________

Aspergers is the joke of the Internet but you sound real. I agree with everything save for the last line.

_________________
Sunàqʷa the Sea Lamprey says:

Idk, I don't think it has to be a bad thing for someone with a developmental disorder to write a poem about it just because it doesn't speak for everyone with that disorder. (If it doesn't speak for anyone with that disorder, that's another issue). I understand the concerns about stereotypes and trivializing, but in general, I don't see anything wrong with saying, "I am in group X, and my experience has been Y" when other people in group X have instead had some completely different experience Z. Js.

I agree with Vijay.

Considering how often I post/think that, it would save everyone's time if I made it my signature. But I won't because I like my current one too much. Maybe I should just abbreviate it: IAWVijay

_________________
ìtsanso, God In The Mountain, may our names inspire the deepest feelings of fear in urkos and all his ilk, for we have saved another man from his lies! I welcome back to the feast hall kal, who will never gamble again! May the eleven gods bless him!

Aww, thanks!

mèþru: How about if I start with:

I'm not mentally retarded
So don't get me started

then?

Frislander: We Aspies' poems have a certain feel to them, don't they?

Travis: Yes, bipolar makes people suffer, but Asperger's definitely has some benefits. And Soap, I'm sorry you don't feel that way about the last line. But you must admit, it did sound like Asperger's!

_________________
"trilobite-dragons, fuck yeah!"
-Torco