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.