Who Talks Back

By Baya Ginsburg

My best friends – my couch, (keeps me comfy)

my singing earbuds, (blocks them out)

my blanket, (keeps me warm)

my baking pan, (treats can’t talk back)

I hide behind them,

hide from the crowd’s dull roar.

people do nothing but let me down.

(My objects won’t talk back).

Touches and hugs I can’t reciprocate

Why don’t I return them?

They won’t understand they can’t understand.

(A blanket’s hug won’t talk back).

I just sit back and watch

that’s what I prefer to do.

Will I find someone who thinks like me?

(People like me won’t talk back).

I can actually talk,

although only on my own terms.

I can be like them (some-

times, I will talk back.)