Deprivation

Deprivation

If I grew up an autistic child

no one told me.  My parents were too poor

to ask, and who could diagnose it

if they had?  So I grew up normal

despite the times I liked to be alone. 

If one of my fifty-four friends turned out

to be the poster child it wasn’t known.

We had no little leagues, designer cribs,

soccer teams, nor video games.  Any time

away from chores or homework, we filled

with playtime on our own.  No cell phones,

Face Book, I-pods—how did we survive? 

No one feared Alzheimer’s then.  They just plain

forgot and went on living till the end.

                              —Donnell Hunter

                                        30 March 2012