Sounds of Silence

Conversations dominate my thoughts like

teenage girls’ tongues savor gossip.

Neurons bounce inside my brain,

passing notes in class: back

and forth, back and forth—

exchanging encrypted messages

with their next-door neighbor.

My brain

decodes these

electrical signals into primary colors: red

yellow and blue.

Vivid conversations dictate dendrites,

informing neurotransmitters

passing through my mind like step by step,

coded instruction manuals: i.e., the brain injured’s guide

to a lifetime of

happiness–but can it be trusted?

Like ocean waves receding

from the shoreline, these mindful conversations

come and go, come and go

come and go.

Like how the sun’s illumination never really fades far

from the night’s sky, my mind’s conversations never

fall short of leaving me alone in my solitude.