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We Live in Silence

Silence is silent.

Except it is not,

just ask John Cage.

He’ll look at you

for four minutes

and 33 seconds.


In Vermont

I met a man

from Boston.

He could not sleep;

the forest was loud

compared to the city.


In zen, the goal

is to still the mind

into silence:

to be aware

to such an extent

to become extant.


In an anechoic 

chamber, one hears

one’s bones,

and the thrum

of one’s blood

beneath the skin.

(November 14, 2025)