Jon Tribble
Breathing in a New Language Barr There are only two times when holding your breath doesn’t count: before your first and after your last. In those moments of beginning
and ending, the language of “inhale” and “exhale” is like a doctor’s signature on a prescription. These are the true foreign lands and before your first and after your last in those moments of beginning
a refugee’s existence in unmapped countries—for what are life and death but the most uncertain expeditions ever mounted?—take a guide,
someone who will translate the gestures and customs like the slap on the bottom, the pennies on the eyes. This is dangerous territory, but the most uncertain expeditions ever mounted take a guide
and so should you, even if no one knows what’s coming down the path or if there is a path to continue on. No need to be alone until you must
14 | the BLUE MOUNTAIN REVIEW Issue 11