What about the silences?
It was an odd question,
what about the silences,
and I wasn’t entirely sure
how to answer.
The silences are long.
The silences are still.
The silences are…
silent.
Yes, but are they
comfortable? she said,
and this time I understood—
because I’d been in
uncomfortable silences before,
and they were awkward, uneasy,
frightening at times.
No, I said,
the silences are
lovely pockets of time
when I can hear myself think
and he can hear himself not think
and we are separate yet connected.
Then you know, she said.
Silences tell you
everything about
a relationship.
So measure them
well.
This is an excerpt from Textbook of an Ordinary Life: poems. For more of Rachel’s poems, visit her Reader Library page, where you can get a few volumes for free.
