Uplifted By You, But Not Apart From You {for H.B.} Poem by Shane Markie

What are you so afraid
of hearing? Is it simply
a voice speaking with
the nonsense syllables of
any obscure dialect you've
never studied, let alone
abstained or refrained from
even using? You complain when
I eat in order to avoid silence or
abstain from meaningful conversation
unless the subject is about politics or gardening.

What pathetic difference does it make when
you're the person filling the silence
with background noise from the television during dinner?
You chatter about the weather and about outdoor avian life
because only changes in the outdoor upper atmosphere
are the only changes that matter most anytime here.