Stereocilia

Things could be worse

for me I guess

At least my vision's still

good - and I'm getting better

at reading lips

Have you ever noticed

the overwhelming beauty

of human lips

and their diversity

I want to make a

documentary on lips

I can see their softness

and their strength

the supple flexibility

and the restraint

how small they are

where they leave off

and become face

I hope my doctor doesn't mind

that I don't look her in the eye

She must be used to it

still - I don't want her

to think me rude

but I can't afford

not to see

what she's saying

because I can only

hear about a third

of her words

She's telling me about the bundled

structures they've seen under

the electron microscope

so small even light waves

are too big - and how

they resemble stereocilia

Then I ask her

how soon a clinically

relevant therapy

will be ready

She tells me ten years

It's then that

my eyes wander

and now without

focus and attention

I may hear every third word

but I take none of them in

I'm not looking

to fill in the gaps

either

It's only when

I hear her tone of voice

change that I bring

my eyes up to hers

and the emotion

I see there

makes me cry

from them both

* * * * *

This poem was written in response to the May 10 prompt at Big Tent Poetry about "listening to language." I was inspired by an article I read on Digg called "New Research Paves the Way for Cure for Deafness" which accounts for some of the language I used, including the title, as well as the theme.