Read three sentences, check my email Oh that’s a good idea, I’d better write it down it’s too quiet Rush down the stairs Everything is ok this time “Can I have some tape?” Searching for the masking tape in the closet. Found it Not in the tape box, but hooked around a jar of crunchy peanut butter Decide to finish making the hazelnut thumbprint cookies Think about writing this poem of creativity interrupted by motherhood Motherhood as a creative Creativity as a person with ADHD All three things existing chaotically inside of one person The swirl of the chocolate forming a kiss on top “Mom, I can’t do it!” Look at what the middle is doing, paper folded into a homemade envelope Oh crap, he’s knocked over the water The only thing I didn’t clear off the table from the afternoon snack, But the tablecloth had stains from the turmeric latte he had spilled earlier in the day, And hot chocolate stains from where the middle knocked over her cup during snack time, So it …

For the neurodivergent parents of neurodivergent kids I didn’t come here to tell you I love my kids. I came here to suck and spit venom. Have you ever looked down to see an arrow of your own making sticking out of your chest? That’s the job. I drag myself to the edge of the battlefield to pull these arrows out through the other side. I have been paying myself first, but honestly? I am hanging on by a tenuous spider’s thread. My responsibilities have sucked all the stone out of my bones and the meat from my muscles; Brittle I scrape across the ground; spite and stubbornness are the heaviest things I can carry are what hold me to the ground. The only fuel I have to toss into this engine is the compressed mineral of rage. Because there is nowhere to put this! Because I get shocked snatching you back from live wires Because I had to jump on the grenade you unlocked Because you start fights that I have to finish Because …