The Roundworm Shares The News
Thinking about how I went backwards too long whenever there was a tap on my petri dish. Wasn't til I learned these taps won't hurt me. Not a whip, gash, no blood, no need to run. Scientists made the autistic roundworm to confirm I couldn'ta done any better. Genetically programmed, with no one to point it out, wonder, tease, or question. I shoulda taken the shoulders of alla those therapists, shaken them, begged them, figure me out! I'm fed up with myself and my confusions, I can't understand what the matter is! Time flies (I can't - they move too fast) the constant searching and shame for my self-absorption, special projects, hoping the sky might dim as lightbulbs glare! Appliances scream! Here I am, autistic, finally somewhere. Able to stand the tap without flinching. Stare.
Emma Goldman-Sherman believes in the power of language to inspire healing and agency. Her/their poems have been published in American Athenaeum, Oberon, and others. Her/their plays have been produced on 4 continents, available at newplayexchange.com. Podcasts at TheParsnipShip.com and PlayingonAir.org. Emma runs www.BraveSpace.online to support all kinds of writers. My plays have been published by Next Stage Press, Smith Scripts (UK), Applause, Smith & Kraus and on NPX. She/they earned an MFA from the University of Iowa where she received the Richard Maibaum Award for plays addressing social justice (Antigone's Sister) and the Jane Chambers Award (Perfect Women) in the student division from ATHE. Member: Dramatists Guild, LMDA, Honor Role.