There’s no such thing as silence

she hears the rain, she hears

cars on the street, children

called home by names that sound

like music

there are no words

because no one has ever spoken to her

every day when the patch of sky

she can see from her prison the crib

darkens slightly

someone plays softly

a piano she will never see

the sound comes through the locked window

the sound comes close

something like a touch

something

like the blue that flashes by

she does not know is a bird

Karina Borowicz’s book, The Bees Are Waiting, was selected by Franz Wright for the 2011 Marick Press Poetry Prize.  Her work has also appeared in AGNI, Poetry Northwest, and Southern Review.