My Silent World

The Intruder is a stream of consciousness story told in beautiful blank verse by a deaf child. She treasures her silent world: From my window/I can see/Birds in suits of black and white march across green grass./I see them cock their heads/And with one quick, bright-eyed jab/Fetch a worm. The child s world is changed by a cochlear implant, the intruder , which at first she has fearful reactions to: What are we doing here? / Why are we here? She learns to accept the intruder: Sound./Sound, I hear you./I will learn you too, but You can never be as loud/As my silent world.