Abstract
Foreign Accent Syndrome Philip Armstrong (bio) Misleadingly they seem not unlike usbut closer-grained, harder to see through.I've heard it said the language they speakto us is fake, the liquid syllablesof welcome, synonyms for takeit easy, help yourself, be happy, allof it's made up to conceal their real speechwhich has words for concepts we can't handle,spoken at a frequency our ears can't reach.It makes you wonder what they mightbe saying, smiling as they do with slightlyparted lips. Since meeting them my dreamsand nightmares are identical. I wakemaking confessions in a foreign tongue. [End Page 218] Philip Armstrong Philip Armstrong teaches English and Writing at the University of Canterbury in Aotearoa New Zealand. His first poetry collection, Sinking Lessons (Otago University Press 2020), won the 2019 Kathleen Grattan Award. His poems have appeared in PN Review, Landfall, Sport, Snorkel and elsewhere, and examples of his work can be accessed online at www.philiparmstrong.org. Copyright © 2022-2023 Pleiades and Pleiades Press
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