Given that I recently completed a poetry chapbook of autism poems (oh yes I did!) and read at an autism awareness event sponsored by the Sacramento Poetry Center at the UC Davis MIND Institute in Sacramento earlier this week, I thought it might be appropriate to post a poem instead of my typical essay.

This is the first poem that I read Monday night.

PIONEERS

I had no idea when nurses lowered
you into shaking, newborn hands
how far we would journey—pioneers
huddled against the howl of wolves.
We followed a weedy, rutted track
into the dark unknown, possessions
abandoned like cast-off toys,
bones hidden in waves of grass
crushed beneath a fathomless sun.
Time peeled away the others,
fear and frustration swallowed
our weary steps.
Too far to turn back
Too far to go

Until next time,
Cynthia Patton