Camden, New Jersey. Using a rough form of sighn language, these women are "talking" to their husbands inside the jail across the street from Walt Whitman's home.
"Whitman's prophecies, Ginsburg's lamentations, Kerowac's lyric of the open road. . .they all flow into the signing of these women speaking to their caged loves. "Are you making a study of communication?" one of the girls asked.
"Yes," I said. And miscommunication." I have met many communicators in my life, but you are some of the best," I told them. I meant it, too.
(p. 49)