You sit silent
the world around you
so close and yet so far.
The cacophony of excited cousins
dashing from shore to sand,
fetching pails of seawater -
your surround-sound,
as they build sandcastles.

Jaedan, how do we pierce
your silent world?
How can we lift the veil off your
brilliant mind -
even if for a minute?

With random bursts of energy
you sing your thoughts
in a flurry of activity.
"The Hot Dog Song" now your
chosen mantra.

  
Marsha M Nelson is a playwright, screenwriter, and award-winning poet. Her poem, "I Thought It Was Love" won the Nassau County Poet Laureate Society contest. She has also written and directed several Resurrection Cantatas and Christmas plays. Some of her poetry has appeared in literary magazines and anthologies such as NCPLS Review, PPA Literary Review, LI Quarterly, Poet's Almanac, Bards Annual, and The Long-Islander. She was nominated in 2018 for the Blue Light Press Pushcart Prize for her poem, "Hairpins and a Box of Chocolates," and was a third prize recipient in this year's Super Poem Contest at Walt Whitman Birthplace.