Writers' Relay 2 (Instalment 2) - Aysha Begum - Theme: "If Something Was Missing, This Would Be It"

This post is the second of four instalments for the story 'If Something Was Missing, This Would Be IT'. See the first instalment to this story here

It was a Tuesday afternoon, Birmingham was waving goodbye to the final whispers of a dull June and a summery July skipped gracefully through the doors of a city buzzing with excitement. The summer holidays were almost here and I had come across my first pearl amongst the thousands of oysters floating through town…

She told me she could taste words. She feels them in her mouth, she explained to me how every word had a different texture, taste and sound. We sat on a bench peacefully watching a crowd of Brummy’s surge through the little balloon of busyness we like to call our city centre.

“I see words” I told her whilst gathering selective memories from the little pocket nesting in the back of mind where I kept old stories.

“I can’t quite explain it” I carried on whilst trying to picture how my next few sentences would flow into an understandable string a normal mind could process. “Basically, I was born unable to speak English in England. I was taught in year 1. A kind lady would draw pictures to help me understand stories, sentences and words. I guess I just never stopped doing that. It’s why I take a little longer to reply than others. I’m not processing information, I’m trying to get information out. My mind follows cognitive thought processes, I digest information in the form of images like a computer does machine code before spitting it out as high level language.” I shook my head with unease knowing my subject specialism at University was hindering my ability to explain my thoughts in a humane way.

“Take ‘internet’ for example” I finally mumbled after an agonizing breath of silence “before I can utter the word ‘internet’ I picture it to remind myself of the word I’m looking for. I know what I want to say, I just take a while pushing myself to say it.” I paused for a moment thinking about the word perched at the tip of my tongue “interrrnettt” I articulated slowly “it’s a yellow ring of knowledge surrounding a serene blue ‘e’, that is how I know how to say the word” I watched a smile merge across her mouth and she nodded as in to say “I accept who you are, relax”.

We chatted excitedly over cooling milkshakes, she pressed the ice cold plastic cup against her forehead to calm her body from July’s explosion of heat. She understood what I was saying even if I didn’t quite know how to word my thoughts and she explained further about how she first choked on a word. For the first time, I didn’t feel lonely when it came to words, if something was missing from my life…she would be it.

I skipped, danced and twirled home excited to have found my first discovery. I squealed happily trying to picture every word just like the young girl had told me to. A 19 year old who pictures her words…oh how exciting!

What Next?

Writers' Relay 2 | Post 2

Writer: Aysha Begum

Profile:

Aysha Begum aka "Miss Adventure" is an occasional poet/writer based in Birmingham. With one foot in the business world and the other in the arts world, her poetry is an escape from the burden of reality, an invitation onto an adventure guided by words. With her passion for bringing together a community within Birmingham, she aims to become a voice for those unheard.

Feel free to chat to her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ayshahahaha

Or connect with her on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/aysha-begum/7a/2a0/11a