It’s a nerve vibrating, nothing more. A dislocation of the fibers, that’s all. You aren’t hearing anything exotic; it’s just a common aberration, something no one pays any attention to. It doesn’t matter which nerve it is. It’s singing away and you’re the only one listening. I can’t hear anything now. You’ll have to tell me what it sounds like and if it is loud or soft. We’ll walk a bit to calm you, calm your nerves, people say. Keep your nerves from singing too loudly. They’ll call in the cat, attract the birds, make the neighborhood children run home. It’s getting loud enough that I am beginning to discern something. Yes, discern, because my hearing isn’t acute and your nerves are discrete. You’ll have to tell me whether it’s a fugue or a sonatina, a dance tune or something you imagined one night while you lay in bed wondering if the dawn would bring relief.
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Andrea Moorhead
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