This week on Keywords - Things Left Unsaid.
This week Zoë has been making a list of things you don't need to say out loud,
Come-to-bed eyes,
Why not we have time,
Eyebrow raising, questioning,
Eye-rolling - enough of that,
Cut throat, jazz hands, elbow bump,
Saying Ssh with just your finger,
Turning Left, turning right,
Digi-speak, a dictionary of emojis,
Facepalm, namaste, LOL, two fingers,
Thumbs up, thumbs down,
3,304 symbols to say without saying.
Eye gaze, body language,
Articulate, pandiculate, gesticulate,
Your face - 43 muscles make 10,000 gestures,
All reflexes, reflections of our selves:
In Lynsey May's story Purple Water we meet Janie. One day she turns on her tap and out pours purple water. There have been other signs too, things are awry in the world and in it seems in her relationship.
Rachel Andrews wonders if the way we speak to each other in a pandemic is different, or should be different - she has missed a call from someone she used to know and unpicks to what extent we start to understand ourselves and our friendships in a crisis.
We follow Ceri Morgan's poem Avenue Bernard across the city of Montreal, hopping on buses, eating tantalising pastries, swimming in Park Kennedy - in this piece Ceri takes inspiration from Nicole Brossard novel French Kiss and shows us how desire can be unspoken but revealed through a lingering kiss.
Roisín O'Donnell's No Fury reveals the 'unspoken truths in a wounded heart' wrapped in some good old fashioned magic. Aoibheann has been asked to lend her wedding veil to he ex-boyfriend's fiance - she takes this request as a prompt to get up to some mischievous magic.
Ciaran McGrath shares a tribute to his parents with listeners - Ciaran travels frequently and brings his parents back fridge magnets from all around the world. For him it is the only way he can say thank you to them for all the opportunities they have given him over the years, though unexpectedly this tribute become even more meaningful.
Walking away from a conversation, it’s easy to think of what you might have said, what you should have said - what people call staircase wit. The perfect phrase is coming out, but the moment has long since passed. They’ve moved on. Relationships come and go. Sometimes you think what if I’d just said Yes. Or No.
Our last piece of this episode of Keywords writer Eimear McBride’s story The Neurosurgeon's Revenge and it takes years to get the answer. Two people who used to know each - their paths have crossed at a medical conference.
Keywords is a New Normal Culture production, funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland Sound and Vision Fund.
Assistant Producer: Regan Hutchins.
Presenter and Producer: Zoë Comyns