6.15.2023 - Glottal Stop

6.15.2023
Glottal Stop

Of the words we use, there is so much that depends upon the scaffolding,
The bone and sinew of subtext,
Shared values, cultural meanings, collective histories,
Binding our language to our marrow,
Welding our purpose to the sounds our mouths make.

Each Umm or Ahh carries weight like an elephant,
The albatrosses of stutter and gasp,
The naked fumbling for context and clarity.

Our shared speech a net,
A web of hands grasping wrists,
Creating a net through which,
We hold each other up.
We forge a shared reality,
Among ourselves and on our breath.

Ellipses are the evidence of the words and meaning receding from us.

The em dash and comma grant us the grace of space.

Space in which we hold ourselves still,
Borne up in the pauses by what we are not saying.
The magic in the pause,
The meeting of the eyes,
Quickly licked lips,
Nervous smiles or light laughter.

A social glottal stop,
Where we are all one,
In the quiet between our words.