SOUNDING OFF (a poem about Tinnitus)
So discrete you never notice
It just arrives one day
Delivered and installed
While you look the other way
A sound system to blow your mind
Notes so strange and absurd
You just can’t shake them off
Or decipher what you’ve heard
Guaranteed to give you a buzz
The ultimate bleep test
Random bells and whistles
To deprive your brain of rest
The machine assumes all control
You do not have a choice
It switches on at will
To become your master’s voice
The world around you is silent
But cannot hear your cries
Only sleep can save you
From this devil in disguise
Martyn Brown 12th February 2014
Martyn Brown is a deaf grandad in a hearing family. He regularly regularly speaks for NDCS and (from 2017) Hearing Dogs for the Deaf. He relies on digital aids, lip reading and is a black belt in the Deaf Nod.
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hartmut
March 7, 2014
Are you talking about digital hearing aid?
Martyn
March 9, 2014
Hartmut, this about unwanted noises in your ears. It happens to hearing people too, but for deaf people it is a double whammy.
Cheers, Martyn
mjfahey
March 7, 2014
You know, this is a brilliant piece of writing… I have read many comments about tinnitus and thought yeah thats just how it is. but to put it into poetry like this somehow brings it more alive for me. How sneaky this curse is though the more I focus on it the more it torments…