Blog Archive

10 January 2020

Poem: Ancient Wounds

Protected Pangolin: Art by Debora Ewing https://www.debnation.com


Careless shift carapace rifts
A sacred space exposed
Plates of armour torn asunder
Exposing the never whole

Curling 'round her pangolin heart
She tends to these intrusions
In seclusion she seeks inclusion
Within a tribe she cannot know

Warrior head high in a toxic sky
Sucking sulphurous bile from her throat
She ascends from the ashes
Writing footprints of grief in the sand

20 November 2019

Poem: Octopedal Intellect



Artwork by Alexander Harvey @ShadyComet (used by permission)



tock tock ticking
round your clock
hand in hand
we writhe
tentacled
bespectacled
one eye open wide
find me
feed me
open heart three
prise to find
inside
technicolour skin
you swim
through oceans
befouled with pride
can we tap
octopedal intellect
breaking brilliance free
before the final
midnight stroke
from grottos where
you hide

04 November 2019

Poem: Tendrils of Entanglement




worn wood warm
tentative tendrils
search soul ward for
sustenance and 
salvation
while whittled
paperbark parchment
pulses possibilities 
ringing round 
singing sound
smiling sun ward
finding firmament
fallow flee
retreating resting
retired to reality

blossom bloomed
blackened blighted
bending breaking
into bracken
no longer needed
however humus 
feeds all seeds
for survival





11 September 2019

Review: The Rosie Result



“Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!!” was the refrain beating in my head as I read the final tear-stained chapters of the Rosie Result. I didn’t expect Graeme could possibly top the first two Rosie books for engagement, humour, poignancy, and service to the autistic community, but he hit a grand slam with the conclusion of this series. I feel the world is a better place for these books. 

I loved the themes of deep friendship, moving from strength to strengths, and slaying negative autism stereotypes that ran through the Rosie Result. This book puts it to the NT world to think about their expectations for autists to adapt and modify themselves, often at great personal cost, with little to no consideration of what small, simple changes they could make to accommodate us.

If a bar like The Library ever actually opened in Melbourne, I would happily head there for a drink and to meet likeminded people. Finding our tribe is so essential to the health and wellbeing of every human, but the many barriers for autists mean we're often unable to do so. Spaces designed especially to cater to our needs could open all kinds of possibilities, by facilitating comfortable, safe community interactions that honour our sensory and social needs. It might be a pipe dream, but the fantasy is heartening in itself.

I related deeply to the parent-child parallel diagnosis storyline, as will many late-diagnosed autists. The Rosie Result treats this with great sincerity and heart, exploring the fears, pitfalls, anxieties, and pressures (both internal and external) that accompany exploring formal diagnosis and accepting a new identity. I love how this is woven into the fabric of the story and informs all that occurs within it. Graeme doesn’t pull any punches on the difficulties of shifting our identity paradigm after a lifetime of conditioning and brilliantly captures the relief of finally coming home in ourselves. 


It’s been a wonderful ride through the Rosie series and I can’t wait to see what Graeme whips up next in his Standardised Meal Plan Cookbook!