It's Quiet
by Sophia Tarin
It’s quiet over here, my back is against the wall & my gaze is filled with my white window, the view is idyllic. It’s so still over here, the air’s breath can be heard like the sound of a sleeping child & bird’s tweet softly in the background. It’s symbolic over here, nothing moves outside my window & I begin to question its authenticity, a photograph is not reality. Two houses fill the scene, peach & blue separated from lush grass by white porches, everything is made brighter by the sunshine. Is it real? Nothing moves, but then the air sighs & the flag, connected to the peach house, moves & dances in the wind. While everything else remains still.
It’s quiet over here, I’m looking out for signs of trouble because Minneapolis is burning.
But, it’s quiet over here. I try to listen closer, try to listen wiser for the echo of some faraway screams, as if the country was a stadium, a contained space that bounces
sound from one side to the other, as if the American air blended equally, &
everyone was given their share of breath & sound lingered in the wind. It’s really pretty over here, everything, but the flag is still & I can almost hear a shiver in the wind, a vibration in the air, a sorrow, someone tweets with anger & my phone buzzes loudly in the background, the air sighs again & the flag dances, its strips wiggling like a little girl
playing with three ribbons the stripes red, white, & blue. It’s really pretty over here
& it bothers me, this image has no visible scars, no signs of evil.
It’s quiet over here, it doesn’t contain any multitudes. White flight people are packing up & leaving the city & moving boxes fill my block, people running, running here
for shelter, it’s really pretty over here, from the view of my white window & others are
running away from here for sale signs pop up but it’s all very quiet like nothing
is happening, but something is happening, it doesn’t make any sound
it’s in the silence & it bothers me, this silence is more terrifying than violence.
About the Author
Sophia Tarin is a writer and educator. Her work has been published in So To Speak. A Long Island native, she is an MFA candidate in Creative Writing at Adelphi University, whose current work explores the conditions of nature, human interaction, and the breaking down of everyday objects.