An Untitled Poem by Pamela Hope

Pamela's note:  This is a piece of a collection in progress, on themes of trauma and deformity.
~*~
TW:  Blood and violence

(Untitled)

Get out your knife
                Snatch my blade

Press it into this rotting flesh

Check for marbling, watch for green
The content maggots eating me
Your five sharpened edges

Fingers pinching me
Squeezing this raw meat
Ground up and slab
                I mold around your touch
I squeeze through your fingers

Those blades drawing blood

The vulture sniffs me out
                And caws from afar

Look up
                We see
                                Him circle
~*~
Biography:  Pamela Hope is a disabled and disfigured creative and thinker.  She has a background in education, organizations, and free-lance writing; and currently works in banking, of all things.  Follow her @PamelaHope3.

(Review) Keep Clear: My Adventures with Asperger’s by Tom Cutler

Image:  The background is white. At the top in big, black letters "Keep Clear" appears.  Below is a road sign of a red triangle with a picture in black and white of a car falling into water from a cliff.  Below the triangle, in smaller black text, the subtitle of the book and the author's name appears.

Note:  I received a copy of this book in order to review it.  The American release is early next month.

Book content warnings:

Alcohol use
Abuse (mentions/brief descriptions)
Insects
Dead animals
Suicide (discussion/description)
Racism in others (brief)
~*~
Part manual on autism/Asperger's and part memoir, Tom Cutler takes us through his Asperger's diagnosis at age fifty-five and his life events with a newly-acquired lens.  This book has British humor, heartache, and a whole lot of knowledge.  There are few chapters to guide us through, but there are numerous section breaks to make things more manageable.

The descriptions and details are vivid and plentiful.  The author tells you what it feels like to have a panic attack, be near meltdown, have an aversion to touch, and other things some people may never feel.  He goes through the history of autism/Asperger's being recognized as a neurodiversity, some of the famous people throughout history who've had (or were suspected to have) Asperger's Syndrome, and what a diagnosis can mean for people... what it meant for him.

There is discussion on the possible evolutionary advantages of people with Asperger's in the general population, and the author makes the distinction between autistic people (low functioning) and those with Asperger's (high functioning).  I believe people can take whatever label applies to them that feels right, but I have complicated feelings on differentiating any disability or neurodivergence in what seems like an "us versus them" view.

The book discusses the suicide rate for people with Asperger's (nine times higher than neurotypical people).  At one point, while struggling through his early college days and a breakup, Tom (who has type one diabetes) stopped taking his insulin.  His depression was so immense that it cost him two touch-and-go weeks in the hospital.  No one knew how lonely he was.

There are spots of sunshine.  Tom Cutler is a successful humorist with a family.  His depression, a constant visitor throughout his life, loosened its grip once Tom could view his actions (and those of others towards him) through the lens of his diagnosis.  His interest in spinning things, sound effects, and British road signs had an extra dimension once he found out he had Asperger's.

I'd recommend this book to anyone looking to understand autism/Asperger's better, and my lovelies on the spectrum looking for an excellent account of a fellow traveler.

Giveaway: Only Air by Stephen Lightbown

Image:  On a white background, a drawn tree with white bark stands, taking most of the image. On the left side, the limbs are bare. On the right side of the tree, green leaves are being blown by wind. At the top of the cover, the title is in all caps in the same shade of green as the leaves. The poet's name is below in all caps in black.

We are giving away a copy of the poetry collection Only Air by Stephen Lightbown. The entry window starts today (June 5th) and ends on July 30th. Learn more about the book by clicking here (the link goes to Amazon).

Rules: 

1.  This giveaway is only open to people in the 48 contiguous United States because the book is available in physical format only.  (I apologize to readers living outside the eligible area.)

2.  People may enter by leaving a comment on this post, emailing us at handyuncappedpen@gmail.com or getting in touch with us on Twitter @HandUnPen. Please make it clear what you are contacting us for.

3.  Only one entry per person.

4.  Drawing will be random, and the winner will be notified on July 31st (by 11:59 PM CST) via the method they entered with. So, if the person who won entered via email, they will receive an email... and so on.

5.  No substitutions. Void where prohibited.