Two words sit
at the forefront of my brain:
‘understanding’ and ‘language.’
I’ve struggled with ‘understanding’
for a while now. She sits in the corner,
mocking and teasing and trying
to show me something,
something light in the darkness
of it all. Yet, the more
I gather, the more knowledge
I filter, the more it feels
like I’m wearing a straightjacket
of turquoise ribbons and
blood-red stitching.
How do we communicate
anything? How do we
listen and respond
when our ears and brains don’t
understand the shapes the others’
mouths form — the symbols
the others’ hands gesture?
I feel confined in my understanding
when the shapes and symbols
I make fall short.
What is language when no one
is there to receive? When no one
takes the time to learn — to teach?
Some language transcends
the common standards
of shapes and gestures.
There are few people
I understand through
the fanfare and
in the straightjacket
of turquoise ribbons
and blood-red stitching.
You are one of them,
whether you understand
or not.
If only more could hear
and see beyond the
shapes and gestures.
Perhaps, then
we’d come together.
So It Goes 