Written and auditioned for a pageant at a neighboring institution in college. I plugged in my right ear so I wouldn’t be able to hear anything, only feel, as I am deaf in my left ear.

What if you wake up
And voices disappear?
You only feel movement.
Your eyes are now your ears.

As I speak these words aloud,
I cannot hear a sound.
Hoping you can hear me,
As vibrations flow from my mouth.

Silence can be neat, so they say.
But for me, silence was the only way.
Being deaf in one ear,
Creates terror when noises are near.
My sense of direction is off.
I feel left out.
No literally, left out.
Right side in, left side out.

Does that make me strange?
Does that make me lame?
If it does that’s okay.
It’s not like I can hear your opinion anyway.

Don’t underestimate me,
Because I have a disability.
If your eyes were your ears,
How well could you see?