Autism Vox

“Tackled by Asperger” and other poems by Reid Mariani

by Kristina Chew, PhD on April 22nd, 2007

Reid Mariani was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome five years ago, at the age of 49. As writes in his poem, “Tackled by Asperger”:

If you had me write what I do wrong
I might correctly answer you
But I always seem to goof things up
My mind, it breaks my heart in two.

Mariani is profiled in an article in the April 22nd TheDay.com (CT). His younger sister Debbie Parise notes that:

“He did a lot of unusual things,” she recalls [of their childhood]. “He used to run back and forth from the corner of our living room, shaking his hands. He wore a path in my mother’s rug. But, as a little girl, I thought that’s what everybody’s brother did.”

Parise says their mother took Mariani to doctors and psychologists, but “back then, they didn’t know what to say. They thought that perhaps because he was 9 when our father died, that’s what affected him. But I was 7 and didn’t have the same kind of reaction.”

Described as “quite clever” with a “biting wit” and a “nimble athlete,” Mariani has held 43 jobs in the past 15 years; he has a 19-year-old son who lives in Texas with Mariani’s ex-wife. Mariani has written a long poem, ““Monica Miles, Aunt Edith and the Circus Fire,” about the 1944 fire in a Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey circus tent. Thousands were trapped and 167 died; Mariani learned that his Aunt Dorothy, who died a few years ago, was at the circus on that July day, and was sitting in the same part of the tent as 6-year-old Monica Miles of East Haddam. It is from Miles’ perspective that Mariani writes; “‘I thought … how I would be ridiculous writing as an adult,’” he is quoted as saying.

I thought people would help me find my aunt
But now they’re not so polite
Now the grownups are just like children
Like big kids who are ready to fight.

From learning about Mariani’s life story and reading the other excerpts of his poetry in TheDay.com article, it seems that writing from the perspective of Monica Miles might be one way for him to articulate themes of loss and confusion. As he writes in “Tackled by Asperger”:

My friends retire, after nice careers
And I’m just trying to get my start.

And a very good start it is.

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POSTED IN: Adulthood, Asperger's Syndrome, Literature, Poetry, Work