chordatesrock tipped me to a Tumblr post that someone wrote about my series An Army of One: The Autistic Secession in Space.  I already have a poem about someone from the Arms moving to the Lacuna.  So I flipped this around and wrote about someone who thought about moving, but ultimately decided to stay home.  I'm posting it today as part of the Autistic People Are blog project.  Autistic people are ... gardeners, pen pals, people who love places.

A package came addressed to the Gardener
from the Orion-Sagittarius Arm,
not as part of the smuggling trade, but as a gift.

The package was full of seeds:
watermint, cattail,
blueberry and cranberry,
raspberry and blackberry,
even maple, sycamore, and willow.

There was a note in the box,
written on actual paper.
The note said:

I see what you are doing
out there in the Lacuna.
I think I would like to go there.
But how can I leave my home?

If I went to the Lacuna,
I’d lose whole worlds full of worlds,
and places matter to me more than almost anything.
It would mean I’d never sit in this chair again.
The little box on my desk …
goodbye, desk and box …
goodbye, grain of wood on bookshelves.
Goodbye, bedroom and view from bedroom window.

The Lacuna? It’s new.
This is my place.  It's very old.
Much as I'd like to come,
I don't think I could tear myself loose.

But here are some seeds from this garden
and a picture of my bedroom window view.
I'll float them to you, the way
trees drop leaves and seeds in a river
to reach places the trees themselves will never see.

Sam looked again.
There was indeed a flatpic in the box,
vivid with rolling green hills, pink and purple flowers,
the tall graceful shapes of trees bowing above a watercourse.

Sam researched the seeds
and was suprised to discover
that the cattails were edible.
All the berries would grow
in a hydroponic garden.
As for the trees, well ...

"What are you going to do with the leftovers?"
people asked him.  "You can't grow all that stuff."
"I'll keep them," Sam said.  "Maybe someday
I will have room to grow even the trees."

Tags: activism, cyberfunded creativity, gardening, poem, poetry, reading, science fiction, writing
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