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One Hand Clapping

What is the Sound of a Single Hand? When you clap together both hands 
a sharp sound is heard; when you raise the one hand there is neither sound nor smell... 
 
Hakuin Ekaku Zenji (1686-1768)
  
She speaks to me - a foreign movie
without subtitles; a dubbed version 
of an english feature - snippets of dialogue 
recognizable amid aphasic speech. Audio 
and visual feed out of sync in dyslexic pattern; 
the face familiar, the words incomprehensible.
 
It is in the eyes that I read her meaning,
double projectors they impress 
on cognitive screen. Imploring her 
to slow the reel of words, she shrugs, 
breathes deeply and retraces her steps; 
rewinds the sequence of gibberish through 
dysfunctional dendrites and starts over.
 
Unexpectedly, there is a freeze frame,
the spool unravels and all goes blank.
She attempts to splice severed synapse 
of film; grabs an HB pencil with balled fist, 
scribbles and pushes the pad towards me
with the lead firmly implanted into the paper: 
 
When I speak, it feels like I'm one hand clapping.

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