Chapter 1: White Noise:

It is noisy in the womb

The whoosh of blood flow

The rumblings of our mother’s digestion

The beat of her heart

Shhhhh Shhhh Shhhh

White Noise

Birth pushes us out of the safety of that warm and familiar place

We wail, eyes squeezed shut and streaming

Fists clenched, raised in protest

Furious at being thrust into cold and danger without our consent

And our parents hold us tight

Like the uterine walls

Shhhhh,

They say, like the sounds from before,

Shhhhh Shhhh Shhhh

It is human instinct to shhhh a crying person

Over and

Over and

Over and

Over