International Symbol for Deafness or Hearing Loss
fonder now of instrumental music
particularly extended drum beats,
like Fela Kuti, Baaba Maal – since
lyrics of every new or familiar
tune blend contemptuously, inexorably
from polyphony, melody, into
some muddled middle, where voice vanishes
– every song, each voz alta, muffled, submerged,
(a fish in a bowl) straining at foreign
tongues distorted by the curve of a clear
glass prison, and thick liquid atmosphere.
If these ears evolved from aquatic gills,
so I devolve, and the mellifluous
words fade – once minor background sounds now drown
enunciation, articulation,
while anything emphatic or unexpected –
a (startling tap on the glass) anxious
rush, fight or flight – elicited from the
interruption of fierce concentration
to find sentence among the dissonance
(and the whole world darts deftly off, vibrant
as a tuning fork, craving clarity)
where only simple rhythm resonates
(…)
Written after a reading and book launch of The Scribbling Cure by Roberto Bonazzi, with Jim LaVilla-Havelin at Bihl Haus in San Antonio, Thursday April 19, 2012.
