Falling Out

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FALLING OUT


You can, in fact, forget how to talk

to someone. This isn’t dementia. 


You still have a syntax, a tongue,  

loads of memory, but you’ve misplaced 


the cadence of conversation

that used to click along, back 


and forth, like the metronome 

which carried the music you made. 


Now you speak at once, apologize. 

Other times, to avoid the false 


starts, the stutter of “no, you go,"

a silence ensues. It's deep,


no doubt, but not the kind in which

you can hear yourself think.


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