Much Silence has Mighty Noise²
Silence Speaks Loudly of Silence³
A Universal Hum – Allied to Silence⁴
The Silent Word is more palpable than
Wood, Wall, Flesh – invisible proof of Eden⁵
Silence is not only the Source of Sound but its
Subject – and since the speaker’s Acquaintance
With it is through himself, it is the Speaker also⁶
That’s when you know you’ve found somebody
Really Special: when you can just Shut the Fuck
Up for a minute and Comfortably share a Silence⁷
A Silentness answers thee enow – that,
As a Brazen sound excludes all others,
Doth Ensheathe us round – Hear it⁸
Nothing is worth Saying, Nothing
Worth Doing, but as a Foil for the
Waves of Silence to break against⁹
Silence becomes the Subject
The Speaker set out to Be¹⁰
¹ Louise Bogan, Song for the Last Act
² Swahili proverb
³ Jane Hirschfield, On the Fifth Day
⁴ Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Artist of the Beautiful
⁵ Jan Polkowski tr. Michael March & Jaroslaw Anders, The World Is Only Air
⁶ William Bronk, Silence and Henry Thoreau
⁷ Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction
⁸ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, The Seraphim
⁹ William Bronk, Silence and Henry Thoreau
¹⁰ Ed Skoog, Guard? Guard!