Illustration by Damaris Contreras

Deaf girl

… and I can’t hear your words – 

kettle whistles,
chair scrapes on wooden floor,
and your lips move across the table
telling me…

Something.

again I plug in my tape player –
          microphone of my lips,
          switches of my teeth connect me to your reverb,
          create illusion of invisible disability – 

and repeat “What was that?”

until stripped nerves process audio –
“Oh. Okay.”

smile, nod, pretend

ear bones oscillate
to background noise and muffled consonants.
my own voice too loud for you,
perfect pitch for [           ],
and when the tape skips too many times – 

Pause,

          Rewind,

                    – “never mind.”