Don't Worry About It

Don't worry about it, the words slip out of lips

Scowl

But what did they say? Tell me please!

'It's not important' seen clearly said with the lips

Sigh!

Why do I even bother?

Conversations fly around me but I have no idea what is being said

I relegate myself to the couch

Losing myself into another world with flying hands

Hands fly all over in this world of mine

A rainbow ribbon passes through the hands as they fly

A pink sky appears

The Flinders Street station pops up

The hands follow the scene, flying with that rainbow weaving in and out

What a memory

I revel in the memory lane as I watch on my phone

My GLBTI Deaf community as they march along Melbourne streets in 2020

The Deaf clap at Midsumma

It is now 2021

So much has changed

But not 'I'll tell you later'

It is still here

In that bleakness of audism lies a bright colourful world

Of flying hands

2020, the Deaf world saw changes

Flying hands were allowed on television

On the internet

And in zoom

It was not a lonely world for us

People began to wake up

To our need for our flying hands

To be seen, be accepted, be recognised

That memory of Midsumma still sits strong, that rainbow ribbon weaving through

I wonder if the next Midsummer maybe in 2022 will bring out more flying hands,

Hearing allies join the Deaf community for the Deaf clap

The more flying hands in the Deaf clap, the longer and wider that rainbow ribbon

The more aware those are of our Deaf culture and language, the less audism

There is hope

Let those hands fly more

That safe space among the flying hands and rainbow ribbon