‘Oh, I Think You’re Still Muted’ by Ali Rowland

She sighs, inside only, because this is the thing she says most often these days. And usually the answer is lost to the ether, or someone’s cat, or toddler, or the TV, also muted, but not always. The joy of being an online tutor.

The danger of audible sighing is that a student could hear, and add a comment about it to their feedback. She groans, inside, of course, at the thought of that feedback. A collection of comments about struggling to connect, breaking up, and dipping in and out. All those things used to mean something else.

She’s spinning through screen sharing to get to some bullet points, while listening for the (virtual) doorbell and scanning for yellow hands up. Multi tasking.

What was the thing she used to say most before all this?

Oh, yes, ‘Do you understand?’

Ali Rowland is a writer from Northumberland. Her short fiction has been published in The Amphibian Literary Journal, The Letters Page, Wensum and Flash Fiction North. Ali has just completed her second novel. Her poetry collections Rooted (Maplestreet Press) and Dragged Up:A Northern Childhood (Sixty Odd Poets) were both published in 2024. She has been nominated for Best of the Net 2025.

@RowlandAli50

Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash