Publisher's Synopsis
Life is complicated, plain and simple.
What we see is not what anyone else sees. We see a red rose, but no one else sees that same red, for no one else has our eyes. And that's life. We rely heavily on our five senses--taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing--but only we can taste, smell, feel, see, or hear how we do.
The poetry included in Coffee Cup Stains: Thoughts from an Autistic Poet is based on Joy Olree's own five senses. She was, as Lady Gaga says, born this way--with autism, in a world that cannot fully grasp the meaning. In this new poetry collection, Olree attempts to enlighten that non-autistic world, to make its inhabitants see what she sees.
RAGGED RISE
Ragged rise I live
careful not to see
what there is to feel.
Fair the well my child
say there'll never be
ever cause to doubt
what it is my place
here on earth to be.
Ragged rise I go
climbing to the top
up the mountain side
staring at the heavens
waiting for the answers.
Peaceful though I am
I would give it all
if only you would ask.
Ragged rise I see
man in all his glory
weathered worn but
whole, scattered torn
they roam sheltered
from life's storm.
Ragged but to rise
over and again
down but never out
thus it seems my life.
