A person supposedly speaks sixteen thousand words a day,meaning the world utters 128 trillion words a day:612 million Moby-Dick’s, 228 million War and Peace’s,thousands of I chair here go lettuce oh shit no rice street o’clock’sacross the globe. When I speak a lot in a day,I feel like a shop at closing time,ransacked displays of empty crates and trays.Some days it’s hard to get past two thousand words.People pay to be silent for weeks,though one study found 67 percent of menopted for an electric shock over fifteen—fifteen—minutes of silence.Twenty-five percent of women opted for the shock.I might choose the zing of electricity out of curiositythough I usually prefer quiet. Even nowwhen people call on me in groups I feel likecoffee that sloshes out of its cup when a car brakes…
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The American Poetry Review (Digital) - 1 Issue, November/December 2023