When ordinary people talk
We talk in poetry
With long pauses between the lines
Long pauses
Pauses long, and longer
So that all the other information
Has a chance to sink in
When ordinary people talk
We talk in stories
Not in academic analysis
“This is what happened the other day
To my wife’s sister Molly
At the Walmart —
You know Molly
She can’t do the sound of the cash register
.
.
And every register going off at once!
And she was plugging her ears
And crouching low to the ground
And people were staring
You know how it goes”
And another long pause
.
.
.
.
.
Filled by rolled eyes
And barely controlled anger
But mostly
Just a pause
.
.
.
.
Where everybody speaks their piece
Without saying a word
And only after that long pause
This long pause
Here
.
.
.
Only then can the conversation move on
Most of the conversation takes place
Inside the pauses
Where people have time
To think and feel
It’s not a wall of words
Nobody has to say out loud
What we know everyone is thinking
Nobody has to explain
How mortified Molly was
To have a meltdown in the Walmart
Nobody has to analyze
The ableism in people’s stares
Nobody has to explain
Why they are so angry
That this one part of the world
Has to be so hard
“Molly went home and
She couldn’t stop throwing up
She stayed in her room all day
And came out pale, sweaty, and shaking.
At least she had her cat
That cat never left her side.”
Another long pause:
Nods of sympathy
Head shakes of disgust
Eyes rolling at the world at large
Grunts like “uh-huuuuuh”
More tone than verbalization
Like Molly, I am autistic
I have learned the rules of conversation
Only with the greatest effort
That people don’t always like when you
Act like a bulldozer full of words
But it has been worth the learning
Because the bulldozer full of words
Split my brain at the seams
And wore me out before it wore anyone else out
The pauses give my brain room to breathe
Being quiet lets me listen
To the music of their speech
The pauses let me watch
The dance of their bodies
Not one by one
But as a group
Each movement
Reflecting off the movements of another
The music and dance
Are my private view on the world
They let me see things
Others don’t see
Understand things
I could never explain
But the music in their speech
And the dance that hangs in the air
Between their bodies
Tell me everything I need to know
And more
So I have learned that
When ordinary people talk
They talk in poetry and stories
And their hands and eyes dance
To a song of emotion that can only be heard
In the pauses
I may be autistic
I may hear the pauses differently
But I still hear the music
I still see the dance
Even if it’s not quite the same
Music and dance
Everyone else sees
Either way, I know
The rhythms and the tones
The movements and the stillness
That only show up in the silence
I may miss the words entirely
But I don’t miss the music or the dance
And those silent pauses
.
.
Filled with music filled with dance
.
.
.
Are the most important
.
.
.
.
.
Part
.
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.
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Amelia Evelyn Voicy Baggs 