I understand you.
I get what you’re trying to say.
What you’re trying to say is you want me to get it.
I get it. You want me
to understand. You want me to know
not the words, but what’s behind them. Got it.
You’re trying to tell me
what you want me to hear. What I
hear is all words, but that’s not all there is.
I totally comprehend.
There’s a comprehensive totality
beyond, or above, or within, or outside
whatever you just said.
Yes, yes. Your vocabulary can’t put the nuance
on the fine feeling you wish to express.
Not that you’re feeling fine, I know.
Rather, the feeling is fine like a fine point. Right.
That’s the point. I get it. If you could say so, you would.
You still want me to understand?
I told you from the beginning. I’m with you.
I got it. Why keep going on? It’s gotten. It’s all good.
Yep, the speaker gets what you're trying to say.
Think about a time when you wanted someone to understand you. Maybe you were happy, sad, mad, or nervous. Write about that feeling!
Excerpted from Killarnoe by Sonnet L’Abbé. Copyright © 2007 by Sonnet L’Abbé. Reprinted by permission of McClelland & Stewart, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited.
