-by Said Shaiye--celebrated with the author's permission and selected by PoemoftheWeek.com Founder and Editor, Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum​

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Said Shaiye is an Autistic + ADHD (AuHD) Somali Writer & Photographer in Minneapolis. He is a 2024 MacDowell Colony Fellow as well as a 2024 AWP Panelist: Autistic Writers On The Inaccessibility Of Professional Writing Spaces (Organizer, Participant); The Anti-Ableist Writing Workshop (Participant). He was nominated for a 2024 Pushcart Prize by Indiana Review for his essay SNEAK A UZI ON THE ISLAND IN MY ARMY JACKET LINING. His debut book, Are You Borg Now?, was a 2022 Minnesota Book Award Finalist in Creative Nonfiction & Memoir. He has published poetry & prose in Indiana Review, Texas Review, Obsidian, Brittle Paper, Pithead Chapel, 580 Split, Entropy, Diagram, and elsewhere. He has contributed essays to the anthologies Muslim American Writers at Home and We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World. He teaches writing at various community colleges in the Twin Cities, as well as with Unrestricted Interest, an organization dedicated to fostering a love of self expression in Autistic children. He has probably blocked you on social media. It wasn’t your fault. He just really likes blocking people.