Poet : Vikram Kumar
Migratory leaps flap untiring
Sight of horizons undaunted
Strength of wings unfailing
Goals of a journey undiscovered
Who but the fearless embark
With unbridled passion burying fears unknown
Eyes seeing opportunity in the dark
Worryless nerves of steel beckon
Ambition, you cruel master
Heeds not the spectre of failure
Forging ahead with dreams to conquer
Befriend your pain in spasms of grandeur
Pray for winds uplifting
Warmth and love of family unstinting
Angels and demons around unheeding
Infinite possibilities keep my feathers flapping
Vikram – #silentpoetVik
Wings of the mind
Poet : Vikram Kumar
Bees flit from flower to buzz and hover
The fruit is the planet’s succulent drone
Revolving for eons, evolving into a distant future
Disappearing nebulous souls in search for a lost home
Flights of curiosity take a leap for fertile minds
Soaring beyond pursuits so humanly trivial
Packing dreams of wandering beyond unplowed fields
Tied down by domesticated bonds familial
Buckle up into clouds of soaring ecstasy
Blowing around silence of roaring thoughts
Unleashing torrential flights of curiosity
Unbounded by limiting pasts imprisonments
What limits humans’ undreamed will to fly
Is stuck not for lack of feathery wings so light
Ignoring calls to reach across the darkened sky
Taking flight to any star invitingly shining bright
Vikram – #silentpoetVik
Vikram Kumar is a 32 year old individual diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum. He has been non-speaking all his life and has severe apraxia with several gross and fine motor challenges that limit is ability to function independently. His brain-body disconnect, and his anxiety and stims interfere with his ability to complete any task. (Stim’s are repetitive, uncontrolled movements and sounds which cause him great frustration causing the external appearance of an unintelligent person).
His family has worked for decades to try to find any treatment that would enable him to communicate with others especially his problems or pain and other bodily needs and alleviate his stims. In 2019 there was a breakthrough when Vikram started to communicate using a spelling board and later an iPad, that enabled him to spell out words. Very soon it became obvious that Vikram had an extraordinarily active and cognitively age-appropriate mind. He soon graduated to putting full sentences together on the keyboard to communicate his needs as well as expressively take part in conversations though largely when prompted to participate.
Then came evidence that, despite being unable to speak, he had absorbed unbelievable amounts of knowledge on various subjects. He is now able to articulate his feelings with powerful eloquence in English, that eventually brought out his love for verse through over 50 poems.
He has been writing poetry for the last couple of years, amazing readers with his ability to express himself and his ability to use enlivening imagery and his vivid imagination.
Attached are two of his earlier poems for a glimpse into his style and content: Wings of the Mind and Dreams of Yonder.
Vikram’s statement:
I’d love for the world to see beyond the physical and self-imposed blindness to the beauty of our collective consciousness that is enveloped in boundless love for each other’s inherent state of being. Human potential lies in the acceptance of our insignificant differences curbing the ego led selfish misdirected motivations to control our over aggrandized destinies.
I hope my silent voice is loud enough to awaken the power of togetherness.
The Stillness Project 