she existed in masks: lorikeets loudest in the mornings, leaves deliberating on a breezy day, blinds fluttering against the sill, the hum of conversation on the footpath by her window, Fleetwood Mac, her fingers on the keyboard (tippity-tap), her anxious dog’s paws pattering on the floorboards, her husband’s snoring at 3am, the off-and-on whir of the coffee machine, cafes cackling like campfire, firetruck sirens every 43-degree day. maybe silence doesn’t exist she thinks. maybe silence is just a quietening, until feigned decibels reign: radio crackle between channels, a cicada stuck in cochlea’s dusk. her castle in the cortex: an orchestra ringing Bach. no, a conductor signalling silence.

*

she existed in masks: lorikeets loudest in the mornings, leaves deliberating on a breezy day, blinds fluttering against the sill, the hum of conversation on the footpath by her window, Fleetwood Mac, her fingers on the keyboard (tippity-tap), her anxious dog’s paws pattering on the floorboards, her husband’s snoring at 3am, the off-and-on whir of the coffee machine, cafes cackling like campfire, firetruck sirens every 43-degree day.  maybe silence doesn’t exist she thinks. maybe silence is just a quietening, until feigned decibels reign: radio crackle between channels, a cicada stuck in cochlea’s dusk. her castle in the cortex: a daily orchestra ringing Bach. no, a conductor signalling silence.

*

in                                              the hum of                       her

keyboard                                              sirens every                day

she                                              crack                 s                                              the signal