Poem: Signs and Signifiers

I like being out
in the world with
Deaf people.

In a crowd,
they are always first
to pick out friends
we hope to meet, or
find the exit signs
and the rest rooms.

At the grocery store,
they have no problem
picking out the right spice
from a crowded shelf.

And shame shrouds me
as I enviously imagine
how my hearing is
my disadvantage.

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