Am I Invisible
Am I invisible to you
Because I don’t understand your tone of voice
Or the things you do with your face and body
Am I invisible
Because you and everyone else can hear signals from a radio station that I can’t
Am I invisible
Because I don’t speak
So you erase me
Replace me
With an almost person
Or a jumble of clichés
Am I invisible
Because I twist my fingers
Clap my hands
Flap my hands
Repeat sounds, words, noises, sentences
That are music and poetry and liquid gold to me
Is this difference all it takes
For you not to listen
To exclude me, abuse me, institutionalise me
To speak about me as if I’m not in the room
Am I invisible
Because of words in books written by dead men
That claim I am not a real person
I exist
I am real
I’m just waiting for you to see me.
***
Dominic Walsh is a writer and actor on the autistic spectrum. His poetry has been displayed in Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester UK and he has contributed reviews of books, TV and audio plays to scifipulse.net. Dominic is involved with the theatre company Theatre of the Senses that runs in Manchester and will soon appear as Cassio in Theatre of the Senses’ adaptation of Othello.