"stimming" poems
my fingers are like insects -
twitching flies ready to live
because come nightfall
their bodies will fall
still.
but the night never comes -
there is always light here
unless i’m forced to see
just how disgusted
others grow
with me.
dawn breaks into starlight
as i am cast into the dark
cage of my body being
forced to bottle
my motion
until i
burst.
to bottle a supernova
is as foolish as it is
impossible.
Mar 1, 2015
Mar 1, 2015 at 7:47 PM UTC
Discovering all of the holes in my boat
changing channels, moving remote
wonder how far my legs can take me
ponder where i hid my hope
clinging then climbing
stimming then silent
i have anxiety that i wear like a backpack
i have meds that keep my grey train on track
tired of wildfires and thunderstorms
they say its natural you know?
that my autonomy is second hand
to the chemistry
its factual you know?
the cocktail of chemicals that ruminate
dispelling a flesh body’s gloomy state
Jul 9, 2023
Jul 9, 2023 at 5:02 PM UTC
self-importance
your self is important
even sometimes imparted.
define me "stealing".
define for me "sharing".
appropriate? highly
inappropriate.
sickly skinning
stimming sexily
what a seasonal miracle
they keep us alive.
the seasons keep me,
keep a sacred worship
of the seasons
as a thread to what is left of sense
they confirm life and
death so generously
the projectile ***********
of
flora, fauna
dew, criminal
so perfect in its sticky
globular ambrosia
for the ages to keep spinning
open to the full spectrum
of life with you.
wreaking pleasure
meandering pain
full circle, yin and yang
Apr 28, 2015
Apr 28, 2015 at 9:46 AM UTC
dear doctor crombie
rhymes with cranberry remember
that’s what you told me so that i
would remember your name
and you chuckled like that was
the most clever thing in the world
but all i cared about was getting the hell
out of the **** psychiatric ward because being
in that place made me want to try
and **** myself all over again
which is totally the opposite of
what i was hoping for when i agreed to be
admitted but i digress
because what stuck
with me more than the dismal room
i was put in that was either
as hot as hell-fire or freezing cold
to the point where i decided that i’d rather
be able to see my breath than be soaked in sweat
and your shitty-ass joke
was the fact that on our first meeting
you told me that you thought my
coming out as transgender was
nothing more
than a diversion tactic
now dr. crombie
i want you to put yourself in my place
i was 16 years old
stimming and shaking as you stared me down
and then labeled me as nothing more than
a diversion tactic
and that crushed me
it had only been a few days since
i swallowed 40 trazodone and accepted
the fact that i would not be waking up again
and that was all you had to say to me
a diversion tactic
you pulled down the very core
of what i was in two words
and my god i hated you so much
in that moment
because dr. crombie
i had known i was not a girl
since i was 7 years old
and i held that inside me for 9 long years
that almost killed me
because *********
i knew that i wasn’t a girl for longer
than i had lived as a girl
and you just didn’t care
you took what i had given to you
laying myself out before you
because i was a scared
mentally ill teenager
that had just survived a
******* suicide attempt
and all you had to say
that my being transgender
was a diversion tactic
and even now
three years later
that still haunts me
the fact that you
a heterosexual cisgender male
born with a ***** and a flat chest
decided to chalk up my
9 years of hell to nothing more than
a diversion tactic
so dr. crombie
tell me what do you think
i was diverting from exactly
when i had willingly been admitted
to a sterile-smelling hellscape
where i was forced to relive
how i tried to forcibly end my life
every day in the ******** little therapy groups
that made me feel so much older and hollowed out
tell me doctor
what exactly was i diverting from
what was i trying to hide from and behind
by putting myself through the hell
of being near constantly dead-named
and misgendered and having to pay
up into the double digits just to change
my legal my deadname
and gender marker from an F to an M
and being told that i was technically still a girl
and being asked why i couldn’t just be a tomboy
a lesbian
a ****
a butch
why couldn’t i just be a girl huh
why did i have to be a boy
so tell me
dr. crombie
rhymes with cranberry
just what exactly was i
******* diverting from
Dec 25, 2016
Dec 25, 2016 at 11:29 PM UTC
I don't have a personality
I have a diagnosis.
I am not 'very- '
I'm 'hyper- '
I'm not 'bad at'
I'm 'exhibiting dysfunction'.
I'm not forgetful
it's time blindness
I'm not clever
it's hyperfixation
I'm not active
it's stimming
I'm not shy
it's anxiety.
I have a cluster of conditions
balled up in my chest
instead of a heart.
I don't have a brain
I have a doctor's hand behind my eyes
navigating me through the world.
I'm empty without my suffering.
Sep 14, 2020
Sep 14, 2020 at 1:07 PM UTC
Close your eyes.
It doesn't hurt at all, I promise.
If you get scared, you can squeeze my hand. I don't mind.
I know it looks bad, but it's okay. It's all okay.
You don't need to be afraid.
I promise.
But when I open my eyes,
I find rather quickly
That there's no one else here.
I was talking to myself.
Reassuring myself.
The room is blank.
Grey.
The light that comes from
The only window
Is dull and grey.
Overcast.
It's the only thing that's comforting here.
It's too quiet. Too empty.
Too hollow.
The silence is deafening.
My chest feels heavy.
If I close my eyes,
For a second,
I can remember another place.
A place with color.
A place with you.
For a second,
I can imagine it.
I can pretend I'm there.
I can almost feel you there,
For a second.
But it doesn't last nearly long enough,
And then you're gone.
The problem is,
This room doesn't exist.
It's a metaphor.
Because the moments in time that I feel (almost) normal,
Where I am (almost) passing for neurotypical,
That's when I see you.
I'm there.
I can almost reach you,
Touch you.
I can almost be like you.
I can almost...
Almost.
I can only ever almost.
And almost has never been enough.
And I can tap my hands against yours,
Or rub my scars,
Or hold my doll closer to me,
Or bounce up and down,
But all the stimming in the world
Won't keep me calm forever
And it won't make me better.
And I just want to be better.
I don't want to be sick.
I'm so sick of being sick.
I've tried accepting it all as part of me.
As it being me.
But I can't.
Because I see the way you look at me.
It's the same way everyone looks at me
When they think I don't notice.
I know that look.
It's the same look that teachers gice their students when they just can't help them with their problem.
The only good thing as that you don't
Use the voice that everyone else does.
I know that voice, too.
It's the same voice people use when talking to a scared animal that might become hostile.
I am not an animal.
I am not a lost cause!
But I see the way you look at me.
I know that look.
Everyone gives me that look,
Once they figure it out.
I am not an animal,
I am not a lost cause.
At least,
That's what I keep trying to tell myself.
But I don't even believe it anymore.
I want to be better.
I want to be better,
But I don't think I can be the better
You want me to be.
Jul 14, 2017
Jul 14, 2017 at 6:37 PM UTC
Slam my hip down
Hipbone a Warm teardrop
Ripples on impact
My body
Of water
The stage
Walls turn wonderland
As the pills kick drum
I am the bass drop
Hands dove letter
To my mouth
The room waves
As she stands staring
Knees locked in contrapassto
Pinstripes in my eyes
I have no need for the white eyes
Or white fabric
Purity was always
your delusion
Dreamt into syringes
Pricked into tiny faves
Fat with cake and promises from their daddy's
Or any man
With a poloroid camera
I am standing on the ceiling
Chandler trees raze
And solidify a shining icy stasis
Large and formal
Cold and towering
Tables glued upside down overhead
tiny tealights stuck too
Fire flickers down
You are a spotlight
Head
Chest
Skin
All Lighthouse
Peninsula
Ocean
Curvature of the earth
You beam clairvoyance
Shake your head.
Free of these lighthouses
You are under tealight s
A woman dances
Your hand touches your tie
Pen
Wrist muscles with fingers stimming
Champagne watch
Navy sleeve
Shoulder
Cheekbone
Soft hand on your cheek.
Sep 10, 2017
Sep 10, 2017 at 7:25 PM UTC
Stimming/Self-stimulation: most common in individuals on the autism spectrum, but also done by those with anxiety, stimming (stim for short) is the act of engaging in repetitive motions--such as rocking, flapping hands, making noises, and touching or chewing on things--as a way to express emotions or self-soothe.
when anxiety has me ensnared
in its clawed and crooked grip
sunk deep into my bones
my spine becomes a rocking chair
pretzel-ing itself into a shape
that knows how to rid this body
of the gritted teeth and shaking hands
and tears that are a near-constant
and burning promise
and this movement
the motion of moving back and forth
planted firmly on mattress
or couch
or carpet
or hardwood floor
it grounds me and soothes the ache
of a mind in turmoil
in a way that unzipping
my flesh never did
but the motion that is heavily
put into practice while standing
is a noticeable thing
that is too calculated and controlled
to be played off as
intoxication or any other substance
to quite the roiling of my thoughts
and when my little sister
looks at me next to her
with fluttering hands and adding new
indents of my teeth into my bottom lip
and asks me why i am rocking
i do not know how to explain the
motion to her in a way that she will
understand and so i make myself stop
by forcing the movement into my leg
and many summers ago
when i sat on the mattress in
the livingroom of my father’s apartment
that was also my bedroom
and began to rock back and forth
to quell the rising tide of anxiety
from the anger in his eyes and voice
and he snapped at me to
“stop being such an aspie ****
my only response was to
rock faster and bite back the
tears that threatened to
drown the both of us
Nov 13, 2017
Nov 13, 2017 at 11:11 PM UTC
i peel myself back,
looking for skin.
for bone.
for something warm-blooded
and nameable.
but there’s only
mood swings - ADHD?
echolalia - autism.
hobbies that turn to hunger -
special interests.
talking too much - ADHD.
talking too little - trauma. Or is that autism?
flinching at softness - trauma.
stimming - trauma. Or ADHD?
people-pleasing - trauma.
Shutting down - trauma.
Or were those also autism?
what isn’t accounted for?
when i laugh,
is it because i’m happy
or because it’s the safest sound to make?
when i sit in silence,
is it peace
or practiced disconnection?
was i ever whole,
or was i built
out of reaction,
adaptation,
survival?
do i still count
as a person?
i truly cannot tell.
but if i don’t -
that’s okay.
because this is who i am now.
a map of every exit i had to take.
a body full of reroutes.
a nervous system that remembers everything.
even if nothing here
was born purely,
even if it all came from need -
what’s left
is, well, what I have left.
Jul 31, 2025
Jul 31, 2025 at 12:33 PM UTC
The emotions
I couldn’t learn how to feel
My head and face, my hands began to peel
An inner world reflected, the damage too real
Stimming, the name to excuse it
If I keep this up
I might lose it
This is how I dealt with things in the first place
Funny how its all in my head
When there’s scars on my face
May 31, 2021
May 31, 2021 at 1:52 PM UTC