“she said she barely sleeps, & if she does, it's fitfully. hears footsteps in the leaves. & if she dreams, she dreams of sounds you'll never speak. the words left out between the beat of clashing teeth & tongues. the roar of a background hum, that blooms insider her listening ears. to be the sound she wants to hear... & in a stranger's bed, head next to stranger's head, she chokes on words that won't come out. the tv's turned up far too loud.”