The signs and signals

                                   make no sense.

Two people across the way

                                             are talking but

their hands

                   and mouths are saying

                                                        opposite things,

and both are disconnected

                                           from their eyes.

They may as well be

                                  fish, blowing empty

speech bubbles

                         into uncomprehending air.

I say something

                          no one seems to understand.

Buses arrive and pause

                                      grunt and pass

but no one gets on because

                                            their destination boards

are talking gibberish.

                                   Since yesterday

even the dishwasher

                                  is refusing to end its cycle,

but is sending the water in

                                           water out,

pushing the rinse round

                                     and round,

and is suddenly speaking

                                        Swedish.