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‘Lost’ First Languages Leave Permanent Mark on the Brain, New Study Reveals

–Tiana Nobile

To experience the world muffled

through the wall of skin

is like wearing earmuffs

while deep sea diving.

Cacophony of whalesong

and sunken earthquakes,

tonal pitches seep in.

How do I translate

the sound of my mother’s

moaning? It’s a soft wail

I hang on the wall

of my windpipe.

They say the circulatory system

is the first to develop

in an embryo.

That the body generates cells

to divide and multiply, to form

a swelling ball.

That your blood weaved and whirled

to become my blood.

Who was the first you told?

At week eleven, fingernails begin to appear.

I bet you didn’t know that nails

are made of dead blood cells.

How something could grow inside you

that’s both alive and dead.

Once I learned how to talk, I did not

stop. I drew blood and licked my teeth

with language, English spilling down my chin.

Later, I learned how words can wound

without touching, and I tucked myself

in a bed of silence.

Photo by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash