Hard of Hearing

Just for sound to reach your ears the

Vibrations of the air move up to down and down to up

(Amplitude? Maybe. You never really processed it)

A sound wave and

Just for it to reach your outer ear,

Your pinna, it has to travel from Point A to Point B

But not in a straight line. Shorter, yes, but waves are different

And they don’t work like that

So it’s in the pinna

This tiny, insignificant sound wave

And it travels down the tunnel there

Auditory canal

To the eardrum. It vibrates,

At the same frequency,

Or maybe it’s amplitude, it doesn’t really matter

Then it’s into the cochlea, with the vibration of the hammer, anvil

And stirrup (which all have complex Latin names that

You never bothered to learn because it isn’t

Going to be on the test)

And then basilar membrane, which responds, vibrations

Neural impulses

Sparking electricity in your brain, the occipital lobe

And you don’t think it’s important to think before you speak?