Reaction to “You Mean You Don’t Weep at the Nail Salon?” by Elizabeth Acevedo

it’s the being alone, i think, the emails but not voices. dominicans be funny, the way we love to touch — every greeting a cheek kiss, a shoulder clap, a loud.

it gots to be my period, the bloating, the insurance commercial where the husband comes home after being deployed, the last of the gouda gone, the rejection letter, the acceptance letter, the empty inbox.

a dream, these days. to work at home is a privilege, i remind myself.

spend the whole fucking day flirting with screens. window, tv, computer, phone: eyes & eyes & eyes. the keys clicking, the ding of the 
microwave, the broadway soundtrack i share wine with in the evenings.

these are the answers, you feel me? & the impetus. the why. of when the manicurist holds my hand, making my nails a lilliputian abstract,

i close my fingers around hers, disrupting the polish, too tight i know then, too tight to hold a stranger, but she squeezes back & doesn’t let go & so finally i can.

(213 words)

This literally gives me the feeling of spinning through life, rushing through it, never enough time, have to hurry hurry hurry! Be loud, talk and talk and talk, watch the commercials constantly being shoved into my face, always watching the screens of our electronics, watching watching and watching, never stopping, that’s where information is funneled into our brains. But then it calms down, relaxes. You’re in the Nail Salon, your fingers being painted as you just lay there, separated, no longer watching on the screen, you’re allowed to stay silent, listen to the soft background music. And what comes with the silence is the thoughts, all the thoughts a tidal wave of information that you have yet to truly accept, to truly understand. And now you can, you can feel all the emotions you forgot about, ignored. Go through them, deal with the muck of the sadness and enjoy the times of joy, but the sheer amount of emotions and thoughts are overwhelming, making you cry. But, in the nail salon, you aren’t mocked, you have someone to comfort you, allowing you to work through everything you originally didn’t have time for. Once you’re finally free of the unseen burden, your nails are painted and you can go back to what the rush.