Second Language

A friend beams to me
about the ASL class she’ll take this spring
and I feign delight
while swallowing the secret

that my parents taught me
sign language early:
I became fluent in their dialect
of disapproval and blistering
syntax of spite.

My friend will learn
the international sign for Happy Birthday
a grimace for that tastes funny
maybe a full-body expression of jubilation;

I was raised to read impatience
in a double finger snap
gnarled lips of disgust
and the finger wag shame on you.

Perhaps she’ll stumble
through the first conversations,
get tutors for finger spelling, or join
a study group to increase speed.

I was an apt student
enrolled in the total immersion program
though some signs I never learned:
I am enough.

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Candice Kelsey's debut book of poetry, Still I am Pushing, releases March 6th with Finishing Line Press. Her first nonfiction book explored adolescent identity in the age of social media and was recognized as an Amazon.com Top Ten Parenting Book in 2007. Her poetry has appeared in Poet Lore, The Cortland Review, North Dakota Quarterly, and many other journals. She has been a finalist for Poetry Quarterly's Rebecca Lard Award and nominated for a 2019 Pushcart Prize for creative nonfiction. She is an educator of 20 years' standing, devoted to working with young writers. An Ohio native, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children.