Tidally Locked
published The Blue Nib Literary Magazine

I was a believer
when the ritual first began
but I never thought I would be defending from taking
that which is not meant to be given

dignity
opportunity
potential
or sacrificed at the altar

of widespread cynicism masked
with big words like Individualized Education Plan
and Executive Functioning Skills
and assurances that

“We care a lot.”

I was an agitator approaching the tabernacle
of adult Walk Heavies
orbiting our four-year-old son
and his exotic particles

a perfect memory for the spoken word
a vocabulary exceeding most fourth graders
a tendency for literal interpretations
a memory for

“Don’t come back until you can use scissors and button your jeans.”

Even though you admitted
to us that you said this
and meant it
you’re fired.

I was a disruptor mending wounds
of anguish and lacerations
of distress surgically administered over time
in 24 hour cycles

​on the playground, in the hallways, at lunch
in a locked bathroom stall for 45 minutes
bullied by a plague of a kid.
My son is not your son’s pavement.

“Joey was just kidding. You should teach your kid to defend himself.”

I was a skeptic numb to the creeds
of indifference
​and always unmet IEP objectives
and the harried accusations

“Your son is like the moon. One sided. He just can’t revolve like other kids. He is too still.”

And the basilica of bluster persuaded by
its own lack of definition
mired in its own well of gravity
unaware of nearby celestial bodies

simple preached
“He’ll never learn to type or
to drive,
and he’ll never go to college.”

We’ll do this ourselves.
“You can’t do this alone.”
Oh, we are not going to do this alone.
Just not with you.

I became a heretic when I grew up
and became Brogan’s mom
and felt the dark matter
pulsing around him in cosmic waves

visible
penetrating
magnificent
the constellation of his Whatness

keeping me in an orbit safe enough to be brave
close enough to say to the universe
I am a disbeliever
in the myth that the moon

is still, unmoving, incapable.
Having stood bathed in light on the near side
and having negotiated the cratered far side of the moon
for 21 years

I can tell you that
the problem is perspective
the issue is your speed
the thing is your timing

People of this Planet
the moon rotates
and the stars rise and fall there
Just like on your earth

but you are tidally locked
and have not met
many moons
at all.