In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Quarto for My Father
  • Gretchen Rockwell (bio)

"(now the ears of my ears awake and)"

—e e cummings

at first I thoughtshe was flipping me offbehind the wheel    big blackSUV versus little white mein my Hyundai    but her handswere just moving as she spokethe kind of gestures most of usrecognize    not like my fatherand his hands    which move to shapewords in the language of the DeafI don't think about silenceeach second stretching outvoid    like the hollow of anempty shell    noise leakinglike a feeble living thing(not nearly fast enough)fleeing the absenceunable to bear some soundsthe silence    its own living thinga language of its own

there is in Minneapolisthe merged Deaf-Hearing churchwhere the Hearing are welcomedbut silent is the speechjust hands moving and facesflexing    only vocalizationslike the old singer's jokeput the em-PHA-sis on the proper syl-LAB-lethe sound and words not matching upwhere you have to relearnwhat emphasis means    what soundlooks like    feels like    reallywhat language is    I used to know it betterthere is in Minneapolisthe Quietest Room in the Worldwhere you go in and sit downfifteen discomfiting minutesin total darkness    throatsgulping    involuntary gut-noisesthe music of the innardsno words    no soundjust bodies in the darkentering the world againthat brutal cacophony    what noiseis meant to be    we forgetthe sound silence makes [End Page 52]

Gretchen Rockwell

Gretchen Rockwell is a poet and supplemental instructor of English at the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, Rhode Island. Her work has appeared in Glass: Poets Resist, Meat for Tea, Into the Void, and other journals.

...

pdf

Share