Johnny Profane Âû<p>A twin-tailed comet & Heaven's Gate. <br>A family dinner & discussion. <br>An <a href="https://neurodifferent.me/tags/autistic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>autistic</span></a> recipe for vodka, neat, with a disaster chaser.</p><p><a href="https://neurodifferent.me/tags/Neurodivergent" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Neurodivergent</span></a> reality hits different. </p><p><a href="https://neurodifferent.me/tags/ActuallyAutistic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ActuallyAutistic</span></a> <a href="https://neurodifferent.me/tags/CripLit" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CripLit</span></a> <a href="https://neurodifferent.me/tags/Disability" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Disability</span></a> </p><p>---<br>🚨Content Note: religious trauma, Heaven's Gate references, suicide, family conflict, alcohol. One autistic voice… 71</p><p>In Markdown format, cuz, well we don't have formatting on this platform.</p><p># sneaking my mother’s creepy g-d on high</p><p>### Prelude, December 1997</p><p>“Where should I look?” <br>She asks breathless, <br>Trudging bootless. <br>I barely hear her <br>Over the crackling snow <br>Beneath my feet, but say,</p><p>*“There…* There's Heaven's Gate.” <br>She fiddles with the binox dials. </p><p>I point again, *“There…* <br>That smudge in the sky.”</p><p>Thirty-nine bodies <br>In matching Nikes… <br>I close wet eyes <br>To the hiss & sizzle <br>Of the arcing Aurora <br>Over my head,</p><p>Silence</p><p>Then the cold murmur <br>of the cold mother... <br>*“That's* why they died?” <br>She shrugs. </p><p>My eyes open… careful, I shrug, </p><p>“Maybe… they saw a signal from aliens. <br>Or maybe God on high. <br>Who knows what grimdark sign <br>They read that silent night…”</p><p>Wordless, clueless… a comet sailed <br>Ribbons of green and purple light. <br>One cold blue, one hot pink tail <br>Fading from history’s sight…</p><p>So we stroll on into <br>Fake New Year’s dinner <br>Cuz not everyone <br>Could schedule in <br>The Real One.</p><p>*How rare it is* <br>*A two-tailed comet in the sky,* <br>*A lover doesn’t lie with her eyes,* <br>*To greet one free man before you die,* <br>*How rare it is* <br>*How rare it is*</p><p>### Dinner Music</p><p>my mother in a halo of candles <br>my mother wrapped in smoke <br>my mother in dark shadows <br>measuring the length of my rope</p><p>She gathers reports from her children <br>This year’s fugue & pedal point, <br>Her table a feast of sand.</p><p>Youngest Mark files his, <br>A new open source project… <br>“I’m really getting seen.” <br>Lifting my glass to him <br>From the dark walnut table, <br>I sip vodka… Neat.</p><p>Martha next, from her foreign outpost <br>A well-received talk given… <br>Vodka. Neat.</p><p>Second-oldest Luke comments, <br>Wearing a dead father’s mantle <br>“So proud of this my family <br>Progress on nearly every front. <br>John, you seem… <br>Well, better… strangely.” <br>Yeah. Vodka. Neat. And deep.</p><p>Mary reports a year in faith. <br>Jesus gave her home. <br>Jesus gave her kids. <br>Jesus gave her strength… alone.</p><p>I close my eyes in frustration <br>See only those twin tails <br>Sailing in that dark… <br>No wine, no wafer <br>Just vodka. Neat.</p><p>The broken mother nods, <br>Waves a weary hand at each. <br>Then turns to me, <br>Product of her first postpartum, <br>Eldest stranger at her table. <br>She faintly smiles…, “John?”</p><p>This last-invited autist <br>Drunk to a numb survival <br>Starts slow… and slurred, <br>“Ya know…? <br>Never… believed… in heroes*.* <br>Those guys & their comet? <br>*They did.”*</p><p>I hear hands tense, <br>Casual wear shift & rustle, <br>Eyes crinkle & narrow… <br>Familiar, family sounds.</p><p>My runaway train <br>picks up steam <br>plunging on and into <br>a dark tangential tunnel</p><p>“A part of me rejects a g-d <br>born perfect without sin, <br>casually tossing miracles <br>like candy & coins… sublime <br>from a gaudy Mardi Gras float <br>To kids playing in the grime…”</p><p>I gulp a breath.</p><p>Silence</p><p>a child, high on a stone altar <br>a hand… a knife in mid air… <br>a sacrfice for appearances <br>like thirty-nine bodies <br>in matching Nike pairs…</p><p>*How fair is it* <br>*Jesus* and *Jim Jones* <br>*Both got emails from Beyond,* <br>*Love rusts til* <br>*It’s just one more bond,* <br>*Your soul’s released when* <br>*Your last day’s dawned,* <br>*How fair is it* <br>*How fair is it*</p><p>### Interlude, January 1998 </p><p>*Flash Cut* <br>Couple weeks later <br>Ice Storm of ‘98.</p><p>Frozen in time, frozen in mind <br>Aunts, uncles and cousins <br>*No one’s* got power, trapped… <br>Cabin, cards, liquor… discussions.</p><p>Killing time… 3 days… <br>Instead of each other.</p><p>*Oh shit.* <br>Under my breath… “Damn it to Hell.” <br>Then head down, out loud, <br>“Oh, Shit.”</p><p>I’m looking at the cards I'm dealt. <br>So many near-miss combos <br>So many runs that went nowhere… <br>“My bad. I shoulda played that 9 <br>My mind’s off wandering again <br>Let me grab that back. This time.”</p><p>“No… <br>You gotta drink … <br>Ya *gotta* drink! <br>This time… <br>Every time!”</p><p>Rinse repeat <br>Mistake over mistake <br>Vodka neat, vodka neat <br>Vodka…</p><p>I… wake to… laughter</p><p>“Uncle Johnny, you’re the dude <br>From stuck up cunt <br>To puking your shoes. <br>Man, can you *let go…* when you want.”</p><p>And let go... I did.</p><p>*A distracted juggler drops his satin ball,* <br>*A drunken knife thrower ties assistants to the wall,* <br>*The smoking fortune teller wheezes, “Doom finds us all,”* <br>*A Ring Master’s whip echoes through an emptying hall….*</p><p>### Cadenza, for the End of Time</p><p>My catechism asked <br>*Why did that g-d make me?* <br>*I* ask <br>*Why did this unbonded mom have me?*</p><p>To follow a comet into… <br>Desperation <br>Dissolution <br>Suicide <br>And the Peace… <br>Of no need for understanding? <br>Ever again?</p><p>There is no hero <br>No god <br>No bodhisattva <br>That does not hide <br>The dazzling Confusion <br>In a burning bush</p><p>Or explains to me <br>Like I’m a five-year old <br>Why that twin-tailed comet <br>*Still* sails across my mind</p><p>*How rare it is* <br>*To find a god* <br>*Doesn’t want more* <br>*Than he gave,* <br>*A lover who can stay…* <br>*Even while I rave,* <br>*A man who can live* <br>*Not caring if he’s saved,* <br>*How rare it is.* <br>*How rare it is.*</p><p>---</p><p>👉Click for more neurodivergent poetry that rips reality open:<br><a href="https://johnnyprofaneknapp.substack.com/p/spoken-word-poetryf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">johnnyprofaneknapp.substack.co</span><span class="invisible">m/p/spoken-word-poetryf</span></a></p><p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/actuallyautistic" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>actuallyautistic</span></a></span> <a href="https://neurodifferent.me/tags/actuallyadhd" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>actuallyadhd</span></a> @actuallyaudhd <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/neurodiversity" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>neurodiversity</span></a></span></p>