We talk and we say and we share and we commu-ni-cate
but really:
are we saying anything at all?
You tell me you hate your boss, he’s stubborn
and old-fashioned and can’t see past his own
barriers of knowledge.
You tell me your coworker doesn’t respect you and
never responds to your emails until you CC her
higher ups and even then, she will send fake
updates to your manager without including you.
You huff and puff that the bus almost ran you over
because drivers just don’t acknowledge cyclists in this city
and how awful is it that hundreds of people get
into accidents because no one looks when opening taxi doors.
So you’ve shared and now I know, I know
that you have a difficult boss and a sneaky coworker
and that you cycle around New York.
But.
Is that you? Is that all there is at the essence of
millions on millions of cells and impulses and current
traveling through thousands of pathways, receiving hundreds
of messages and data points every second?
A being so complex and intricate and subtle, we barely
understand what is happening beneath our first layer of skin.
Are all of those systems and connections and reactions
described simply by a manager, a coworker, and a bicycle?
I want to know more.
I want to know how your retina receives the colors that
my face emits. What shade of brown are my eyes by the time
that they reach your optic nerve? How quickly does your
visual cortex assemble the pieces of information that make up
my smile?
I want to know the first sound wave that reaches your eardrum in the morning
and the precise shape that your hair cells are molded into.
Does your amygdala heighten activity
in your auditory nerve when I whisper your name?
I want to know how much force I have to apply to your
fingertips and your palm
for your Meissner’s receptors to trigger chills
on the back of your neck.
We say and we share and we communicate, but
really
what I want to know is
the millions of ways that only you experience the world.
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Submission Name: Essence
