THE HARD-OF-HEARING

When I was a young boy, I found it comical when old people would say, "Eh, what you say?" because they could not hear well. Now in my 60s, I ask my own version: "Huh??"

 

the hard-of-hearing are so misunderstood.

They hear something bad that's really good

or they smile when in fact they really should

 

get peeved or at least wear old-man frowns,

rattle arthritic bones to simulate jumping up and down,

hiss through their dentures swear-word sounds

 

but let's face it: they cannot hear the words

hurled at them like stones at summer birds

or hearing them they mix them up into the absurd

 

"Screw you!" is heard somehow as "How do you do"

and the nastiest curses-- check them out: there's a slew

of them filling up the air, the hard-of-hearing misconstrue.

 

These oldtimers have too much pride to ask, "What say?"

instead prefer playing games by nodding, smiling, saying, "Ok,"

which leaves them wide open to more verbal abuse, that way

 

the feelings of the old remain intact: what they don't know

cannot hurt them. The bad words the inconsiderate throw

at them get thrown right back, those unkind words go

 

unheeded, answered with smile, twinkle, a wrong reply.

Maybe the hard-of-hearing play this game to help them survive

the slings and arrows of outrageous folks: they choose to thrive

 

 

despite it all, pretending to be deaf, they remain in command.

Just a game to defuse a two-way war of words: They misunderstand

so that, despite old age, somehow they still maintain the upper hand!

 

 

 

Reviews

[Lorraine]

How fascinating. Looking at deaf old men's perspective never really came to me. I guess it'll come to me as I get older. Anyways, I like the lightness and the minimal amount of humor it has. Thanks for sharing.

Keep Writing. ^___^