what is a special interest?

1.

it’s when they think you’re Rain Man

or when you aren’t autistic unless you’re obsessed with something, anything

trains or dinosaurs or the solar system

and maybe, in reality, you are passionate about one of those things

but maybe you like Super Nintendo JRPGs

Beanie Babies, decades after they’ve gone out of style

or perhaps you don’t have a special interest at all

which won’t net you a career as a train operator, anthropologist, astronaut, or something, anything else

2.

it’s when you love a topic, collection, a point in history so deeply, it carves itself into your bone marrow

it’s how the Lego bricks and fairy moss diorama in your living room was conceived

it’s what attracted you to cats

it’s how you hyperfocus

it’s how you get by, how you manage, how you regulate

it’s why you know this universe is capable of endless curiosity and wonder

it’s worth all of this

it’s worth sharing

poetry actually autistic poem special interest