Those Things On The Side Of Our Head

By Gael Hannan

They’re funny looking, those things on the side of our head.
Whether standing at attention, right-angled to skulls
Or lying flat on their backs, like a terrified cat
These cartilaginous slabs are strangely designed
As if created, in an afterthought, from leftover body bits.

“Hmm, the side of the head is a boring stretch of nothing,” thought the god in charge of making human beings.

“It needs a hole.”

“And then we’ll take that eleventh toe, the second chin and some of that extra elbow skin
And shape and mold it around the hole
So the sound can go in there, rather than through the nose, like we planned.”

And so it was that the PINNA – or a pair of PINNAE (pin-ee) – were formed!

As gatekeepers –

To collect and transform sound waves in their magician’s hat,

To be pulled out the other end, as meaningful words and sounds.

As a blank canvas –

For decorative jewels and piercing bits of metal

And a holder for the hooks of eyeglasses

But what about those of us who have hearing loss?

Our hard-working pinnae remain the sound collectors,
Not at fault if the waves become warped, somewhere along the hearing path.

But they must now accept the help of hearing aids or cochlear implants –
New jewelry that gives those things on the side of our head a new beauty –

Something you don’t quite expect from surplus toe-and-elbow bits.

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