Inside yourself can you hear your heartbeat?
Can you still hear it? Or is it drowned
by tinnitus and the swirling crash
of your thoughts?
When you lie down at night
can you hear your breathing?
The whistle in your nose? The sigh
in your chest? Or is it drowned
by the rumble of your guts
and the noise and interference
of your dreams?
And your voice. Your everpresent voice.
How does it sound, now, from the inside?
Sweet and clear? Or blurred and blurting?
And does it go on inside you when the rest of us
stop listening?
(First published in The Broadkill Review)