I’m learning so many different ways to be
quiet. There’s how I stand in the lawn, that’s one
way. There’s also how I stand in the field across from the
street, that’s another way because I’m farther from
people and therefore more likely to be alone. There’s how I
don’t answer the phone, and how I sometimes like to lie
down on the floor in the kitchen and pretend I’m not home
when people knock. There’s daytime silent where I stare,
and a nighttime silent when I do things. There’s shower
silent and bath silent and California silent and Kentucky silent
and car silent and then there’s the silence that comes
back, a million times bigger than me, sneaks into my bones and
wails and wails and wails until I can’t be quiet
anymore.