Oh my goodness--thanks so much for recommending this read--it sent chills up my spine. Lovely work, about a tragic subject.

It simply reinforces the fact that everybody, especially children, need support.

Wendi

Ace, Hi! I can feel the love and heartbreak
in this poem. It sounds like you may have had "Asperger's Syndrome".
It was not even Diagnosed as a Syndrome until the year 2003.
My sister, Kristina, is 39 in January and has had it since she was born. I wrote a story about it.

Asperger's is a high-functioning form of Autism. It is more common in males than females. Kris is female and my nephew, Joseph, is now 14 years and has Asperger's.

I wish you the best!
Wonderful poem, even if it is not about you.
Becca

Autobiographical or someone you have in mind?

Ron

I'll echo Eileens comment on this one.
"Much strength and endurance comes from being able to withstand peer pressure and stay your own course. I admire all who do."

A wise child and an even wiser man.
Heartwarming poem

I like this kid..he kinda reminds me of me..hmmm


Vesna...

PS saved this!

Yes... I remember this well, and it took years of getting better acquainted with that child to learn to love her, and finally release her uniqueness in adulthood... with no more fear of being, intimately, the very same "child" that still discovers mysteries "they" can only dream about. And so, we write. And so, we live. Thank you for this outstanding view with no boundaries.
Love&Light*
Alexandra*

Love the happy ending, and the marvelous message here, Jude.

"But all survivors defeat the odds" - yes they do

You can Only Get Picked On For So Long How Well I Remember Richies Blood In Snow In His Face -I Broke His F--ken Nose Cold 1 Karte Punch--He Never Bothered Me Again,i.e. Until I Started Dating Susan-His High Schooll Girlfriend---He Shyed Away Dismay_

Then My Friend Beat Him Up For Fun Of It...

You All Have To Grow Up Along The Way...

TRASK

This is such a heart touching poem. It is so true and so so sad that children are urning but so afraid and others are so mean to the innocent ones. I love the ending of your poem that those same people come to him later
but should have been there all along. Very heartfelt poem that really hits home.
Tracey xoox(c :)42

Ah, Jude, this write hits a personal cord. Reminds me of those days when I defended my baby brother in schoolyard brawls-- he was the weird tyke with the thinking cap, I was the tomboy--ready to defend the underdog... There were many "children" games he, and I, did not like. Happily, things came full circle-- like the little fella herein.
Much enjoyed the re-readings ;-)
Masterfully expressed.
Peace,
Carolyn

Oh the infernal ironies of life. You have to admit though, it feels good, doesn't it? Some of your poems really break my heart. I feel as though I should get all maternal on you. But then I look down and see you've got a long list of Moma Bears keeping watch over you.

I am happy to be allowed to take a peek into your mind from time to time. ~ Sara

Yes Jude I can live in this write so easily. As intellects children are ridiculed not only by their peers but often by their parents, siblings, uncles, aunts teachers etc. If you weren't into sports and preferred to read you were not going to be a man someday. Thank you for shedding in your own special way light on this topic. Well done.
Felix

Knowledge is a powerful equalizer

It's not the Problem Child, it's the problem children, carrying their own baggage and dumping it on others, perhaps. Trouble is, we still remain those children as adults, if we do not learn inner resolution, fortitude and resourcefulness along the way. While part of the ratpack, we seldom learn the who and the what we really are; THEN, as adults, the light begins ultimately to dawn that perhaps there actually IS something more to be had, otherwise the old Ecclesiastes "meaningless" cry goes up. Now you are in your own space, you can stand your ground and let "s/he who has an ear to hear" come to you, like Nicodemus, in private. Because, "out there on the streets", often the jungle laws still prevail in the sense that there will remain the flock mentality of either unthinking adulation or active hostility. Just goes to show that if you are wise enough to plot your course and to trim your sails so as to catch the winds to sail it, then others can only look, admire and seek to follow. Happily here, there are always those "tears of awareness falling from an open sky and onto your written words" so you just go right on being "an abnormality Of concentric thoughts Jammed into a dialogue yet to be spoken", like wot the cover of your book suggests! Glad to find that this Garbage Barge Memoir has composted down in your life to provide such fertile soil! :)) You live the dream and lead by example: Go you! TY LOL Kate xx

Very well written......and thank God for those gifted children that can show us the better way!!

Something to ponder!!

Love Tinka??

Bill Gates probably had the same experience as a child ... now look at him and what he's achieved! I think a lot of people, who are now considered to be great, had rough going at first. One must have the will and determination to remain true to oneself. Easier said than done, I know. In fact, I don't think it's any easier as an adult. Sometimes it's lonely walking the road less traveled but the rewards are greater and the friends that we find there are truer.

Love & Light,
Joseph

Jude, your poem rekindles a flame in me whose fire that says that suffering produces perseverance, which produces character and character produces hope, which does not disappoint (from Romans 5). As for myself, I managed to become a chameleon, blending in with the crowd then withdrawing from the world. As an adult, I have thought perhaps I chose this path in an attempt to avoid the ridicule. I watch my son, though, whose brilliance and wisdom seems to run so much deeper and who remains true to himself despite resulting pain or isolation, and know he is meant to shine a great light as he is a great light. As for your own gift and giftedness, I am honored always to be in its presence. Teach us a thing or two. Dawn

This is raw and revealing to the core. It shows the strength of the child, who accepted who he was. Out of the ridicule forced upon him, his creativity and intelligence was able to grow and thrive. It's sad because there is so much pain in youth and longing for acceptance. The last stanza is great.

We can learn a lot about ourselves when we write from our inner child.This is very revealing. Everyone can identify in some way. This is an exact portrait of what my youngest son went through, so I know the pain, but also the fortitude it builds as a result of it. Much strength and endurance comes from being able to withstand peer pressure and stay your own course. I admire all who do.

An inner portrait drawn with sensitive and piercing strokes. Very intimate, very committed.

Robert,
On one level or many all that read this is going to be able to relate and digest the truth behind this write.
Sadly enough we all have doubts and shadows chasing us as children, but as adults, one must be 'special' enough to swim that river of quarrel and win.
Great write!

Lisa

I always seemed to get along with my peers and I always tried my best to be kind, but I had personal issues that separated me from others and these things did seemed to cause me to question how well I fit in. I was popular, but never really comfortable with being so, I guess that was just a lesson of my youth. From all of that, I learned to write my words, perhaps because they seemed less self-directed than if I spoke them, and even now, I honestly believe that I express myself better in writing than I do in speaking. I had wisdom beyond my years and even as a teen would advise adults who could not believe how much better I understood life than they did. It is from difficulty that we grow so in the long run, we have gained much more than those who were able to take the easy road home. This is an outstanding write, Jude and one that I believe we all can identify with at one level or another.
Take care,
Sherry

It is such a common story among specially gifted people, most of the artists, many of the poets would fall in this category. They say artists have to swim against the currents, throughout the life. I can relate to this poem, at many levels. Thanks for writing this wonderful poem.

D

I love your POEM. I never had problems with my peers. But, I had a learning disability, and many times the teachers didn't understand my method of learning and, thought I was being defiant. I was only trying to survive. Later in life I was able to teach those teachers a thing or two. Thanks Jude, Love, Betty Torain

As one who's been on the outside most of her life, my theory of why things go as they do runs along similar lines. Wonderful extrapolation, Jude. ~~Nordette

I'm sure many would ask themselves how jude had come to know about their life during childhood. In my case the "adults without direction" still do not come to ask me to teach them a thing or two. So I sometime suspect myself as being the one without direction since no one is asking me to "teach him a thing or two" educational and well expressed poem

Looking back I think my old school may have had very quiet thinkers.
But school I loved. Mainly just for the fun, sports and friends.
Funny how one always relates back to the old school days more than any other time in ones life..

Well I am not too smart, but I remember how it was to be a kid that did not do too well in sports and such, glad to see this problem child grew to be..................................YOU? ;) ED

EXACTLY!!! I never could of worded this better then you just have. It is that time of rejection, and quietness that give us a lesson few will ever understand. I now see it as a blessing, in the way you have delivered it here. Hopefully another who is going through this will feel a sense of peace within this knowledge. Thank you for this sharing.

I was also born gifted. I am educated from K-12. I have never taken any college courses. I live from inner imagery. I have selective memory and use total recall. The books were always my salvation when I was a very young girl. Many years ago I picked up a book titled The World of the Gifted Child by Priscilla L. Vail. The book informed me that I was born gifted. The section on segregation really hits home with me here with Problem Child. Segregration means separate programs, probably why today I am devoted to many disciplines. Thank you, Jude for this gifted poem.

Sage