These holes on either side of this head haven't had a pause from noise in two weeks. Like ferns reach for sun, these ears reach for pauses between an incessant whirl of traffic, air conditioning, yelling, flash bulbs, bad pop music, honking, clanging, banging, buzzing, humming, screeching. They search for whispers emanating from invisible ones who sleep face down on concrete. They take breaks in bathrooms and cozy up to earplugs. The animal inside these ears thinks of most of this noise as preditorial. The animal inside these ears wonders how other ears belonging to animals can live in such sound. There is a deafness an animal must have here to avoid being eaten alive.
