
No stranger to social distancing
Practiced it for years
Although enjoy being
What I believe is “social”
But pushed myself to fit in
Now, seem to have entered
A new phase that I named
Full-circle fading of
Neurotypical actions
In social-distancing
Could be a doctoral thesis title
Retirement started it
No longer having to act
As if I’m just like them
Can accept the faint shadow
Of the Neurodiverse
It’s not a Plato-shadow
You probably read about it:
The philosopher examines
The meaning of reality
Prisoners in a cave
Seeing fire-lit figures
One escapes and experiences
An epiphany above ground
The real world of color
Blending in with others
Oh, no, though
Not like that at all
Perhaps the shadow is an
Evolutionary adaptation
Me and my tribe
Circumscribed
Homo autisticus
Where we play near
But not with
Each other
Where for others we care
Although unseeable typicals
Are unaware
But now there is an equality
As Homo sapiens
Becomes less social
Goes inward for survival
Well, welcome to our world
The new Neurodiversity
And remember the consequences
If you go within sneezing distance of
Another mutation
But this one
Unlike us
Is deadly contagious…
© 2020 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
IMAGE: Plato ’s Allegory of the Cave (no attribution available)