All four of the images in the poem happened to me and evoked a similar response; awe at the beauty of silence. I really did see a quarter lying on the girl's locker room floor one day, and even though one of my friends was chirping away in my ear, the way that quarter lay there undisturbed struck me in a very profound way. Seemingly insignificant moments like these can be particularly provocative; we just have to learn to see them, live them, and appreciate them.

Editor’s Comments:
Ming Min Hui captures the ineffable beauty of silence in her spare specificity. This a poet’s study of what separates the sacred from the profane, the everyday from the transcendent. Read it aloud and listen for the silences between the words.