Esther Ottaway is an award-winning Australian poet from Tasmania/lutruwita who was shortlisted in the global poetry prizes, the Montreal and the Bridport, in 2020. Her work has been shortlisted for the Tim Thorne Prize for Poetry and has won the Tom Collins Poetry Prize, the Queensland Poetry Festival Ekphrasis Award, and a Varuna Fellowship. Her work is widely published in literary and other journals, The Australian newspaper, and in national and international anthologies, particularly those on women’s experiences. She recently co-edited Australian Poetry Journal’s Divergence issue. Esther is neurodiverse and has multiple disabilities, and won Australia Council for the Arts funding to write her third poetry book, a collection of works illuminating the experiences of women and girls on the autism spectrum. This poem comes from that collection. Titled She Doesn’t Seem Autistic, it will be released in mid-2023. Facebook: Esther Ottaway Poet Instagram: estherottaway.poetry