I know why the rocks on the road are shiny
Why the colours of the sky are apricot
Pink
and blue
I know why the trees seem alive with extra sparkle this morning
Why do the earthworms wiggle to the surface
And even though it seems inexplicable that they do
It is explainable – it is simply too waterlogged beneath
And even earthworms have to breathe
Though they can’t see the birds that swoop, no doubt they sense their impending doom
Take it on their chinless chins
And surrender
I know why a hawk flutters, holding his position in the air
And why the dog pants by my side, staring into the paddock with such intensity
Because I see the kangaroo too
But I don’t know why you…
Fill in the gaps
Our world is full of lapses in judgement
Lapses in communication
We lack the simple function of looking each other in the eye
Send texts
Post photos
Click like
I can’t even hear the notes of emotion in your voice
So how would I know why….
Fill in the gaps
I could, but I know it would be a mere assumption, a conclusion of hot air that I’m moving around in the space in my head
It means nothing and wasn’t said
I simply filled in the gaps
But I know why the rocks on the road are shiny
…
*because it has rained again. And I was thinking about assumptions and conclusions and delusions as I was walking along this morning.
Humans are not designed to communicate in what has become the norm so quickly. Text messages and social media posts say nothing, innuendo is impolite, and yet it becomes this haze in the mind which seems vaguely true because that is what our mind does – it fills in gaps. It is designed that way.
To have a conversation with someone face to face is to gather more information than we even realise. Body language, and eye contact, these things lend enormous nuance.
To have a conversation by phone, our mind notes inflections in the voice and picks up emotions resonating throughout the tone and pitch. We can even tell when someone is smiling, and there is probably even more that we pick up on that is automatic and not even registered except for an “I just know” sort of feeling.
Then there is text – perhaps an emoji or two to illustrate how someone is feeling. Because hell knows we can’t tell from a bunch of random words that are barely properly punctuated these days. A comma in the appropriate place? What? Ha! Who has time for punctuation and capitals 😏😳🫤
And then there is the social media post. Ah yes, and the response – it’s a world-class lesson in psychological dysfunction that we have all grown inured to, and yet underneath is a sea of quicksand emotion.
But I know why the rocks are shiny; nature never lies – it rained last night. And my overthinking brain relaxes, no gaps to fill. It just is what it is, and my dog does what he does, and so do I.
Which is why it makes me happy.
As a writer, I’m great at filling in the gaps 🙂 I miss face-to-face conversations with relatives and friends and relish those I have with my neighbors.
I appreciate face to face conversations now more than ever Rosaliene. And the loved ones that call me to chat are equally relished (to borrow that lovely word from you)
Just love the way your mind works.
Thanks Granny, it certainly entertains me, wouldn’t mind finding the off switch sometimes though 😊
shimmy shake
cocoa shake
and some sugah too
I absolutely love the rain because it helps me relax too. My brain just shuts down and listens to the rain pouring. Yes, we were not built to communicate this fast and that’s why texting, social media etc has come with its own problems both physical and mental.
Hi Pooja, thanks for reading, the rain is so beautiful at the moment and now we have the choir of frogs and bugs at night. 😊
So lucky, it’s quite the opposite here and there’s actually a drought on going.
Wouldn’t it be nice if our minds allowed the gaps to exist? If we listened more deeply versus inserting our presumptions? A quieter mind — yes, I think that would be nice.
It would be nice if we could allow the gaps to simply exist Monty. I try. I think that’s all we can do
I do love this post, Kate. There is so much truth in it. Miscommunication is rife in the way we and others interact with each other. I do use text and messages quite a lot, but not when I have more definite or important things to say. It’s so easy to read into a text something that we interpret as, perhaps, aggressive or unkind when nothing of the sort was meant. Emojis have quite an impact on me. It’s like an instant expression of whatever the sender is feeling. I’m probably guilty of using them too often. I do like to choose them carefully, though, but who really knows how the other person sees that? It’s far better to have a face-to-face conversation if possible, or at least a phone conversation as the next best thing. Filling in the gaps is such a good way to describe the way we operate with each other. This post was truly food for thought. Thanks for sharing it. Xx 💛
Thanks for reading Ellie, I always look forward to your thoughtful comments. I agree about emojis they are very useful, as are gifs – for being clearer in texting. I thought of this as my brother called the other day, one of the few that still call me actually as most people text and it was a really lovely out of the blue long rambling conversation.
We’re not designed to communicate this much either…we shouldn’t be so accessible to others who want to communicate. It’s all part of the invasion of the mind, which we’ve happily accepted as a convenience of our wonderful technology. “When the phone was tied with a wire, humans were free…”
I think the phone technology grew so fast that nobody realised the implications of hyper communication, it is an unfolding experiment which we are perhaps only now realising we are paying a high cost for:
I was just reading another blogger that stated something similar. STUNNING poem and what a powerful message my friend!
Thank you! So wet, glad you liked it