“War is what happens when language fails.” — Margaret Atwood
* * * * *
This is the color of my voice these days … Almost Silent.
Imagine it there
in a box of 64 crayons.
In my mind’s eye, Almost Silent is wrapped in Ecru
But its waxy innards are sea green.
Almost Silent, when taken to paper,
magically scribbles in a shade of blue
known only to the indigenous people
of an island yet to be discovered.
But I recognize it instantly when
I see the child’s drawing of a
heart within a heart within a heart within a heart.
Once, I remember, I fingered gel
that shade on my way out of the womb.
