How to Answer Silence
It’s so quiet in my house I can hear
electricity running through wires.
My house rivals the anechoic chamber
at Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis
or the silence of prayers, snails, and snow.
I’m not uncomfortable with silence,
prefer it to noisy distractions.
I have a friend who must have the TV
turned on at all times. My hair cutter,
who comes every three weeks, complaints
about how soundless my place is. On the
other hand, I like relevant sound, birds
in a forest, the crackling of autumn
leaves underfoot, the pounding of rain
during a cozy storm. I wouldn’t want to be
deaf. I’d miss conversations and music,
but when I’m home, I appreciate the respite
from unnecessary hubbub and clamor
of everyday life. I live alone welcome
quietude and tranquility, the hush of
a single man’s breath louder than the roar
of loneliness for which there are no echoes.
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R. Nikolas Macioci earned a PhD from The Ohio State University. He is the author of nineteen books. Cafes of Childhood was submitted for the Pulitzer Prize in 1992. In 2021, he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a Best of the Net award. In 2022, he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He was nominated for a Best of the Net award for 2023, and City of Hammers was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Hundreds of his poems have been published here and abroad.
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Stone Poetry Quarterly 