(deafdumb)

The deaf
have to sign
to talk to themselves.
A girl sits beside
me – I believe
we could say
rattling away.
I think how hard
it would be
for me to ever
get out of the house
if I had to do that.
There is always
the monitoring &
direction –
keys, lists, glasses
a basket for market,
the notebook
I am working in.
How to gather
all this up
as I sign?

Her eyes do not
look in the same
direction,
so it’s hard
to know if
she is addressing
me.
She keeps making
that gesture
of putting the thumb
up in air –
as though to “all right,
all caps,
okay in that over
emphasized tone –
and I find
I do not know
what to say.

2/19/00