Thursday, June 28, 2007

After Work


After Work

a hollow KLOHK-KLOHK-KLOHK of one woman's shoes

the shaprer shclick-shclick of another's

a low Bass HAAOOUUUMMMM of the bus

overlaid with the loud I-need-a-new-muffler roar of the motorcycle

a quick squeak of brakes

more squeaks from the trailer towed by another truck

the bird-like PEE-PEE-PEE of a delivery truck backing into place

sh-FLAP sh-FLAP sh-FLAP of the flip-flops

a tiny squick-squick of rubber soles on pavement

a plasticky FLACK! of the door shutting on the van

two blocks away a quick brmp of a car tooting its horn

HUWSCHH
HWWWOSSCHH
WHWHUMMMM
the cars pass by

SSQUEEEeeehhh, the bus slows for the crosswalk

slk-Cruk, sslck-Cruk more sandles slide by

Oh, good! My ride is here.




I'm not sure I'm finished with this, but it will do for now. It was an experiment in which I listened to what was around me and tried to write in letters the various sounds that came to my ears. It was harder than I thought it would be. Have you tried to listen to a "noise" and figure out how to write that sound?

For more poetry see Poetry Thursday.

9 comments:

leonie.wise said...

i think you have captured the sounds amazing accurately. i could hear them myself as i was reading through this!

:)

Maria said...

You know, it is amazing what I just zone out....

Clare said...

I had so much fun reading this both quietly in my head and out loud -- such wonderful sounds! Very clever.

sister AE said...

Hi, Leonie,
Thanks.

Maria,
I usually do too. This was a challenge to not only hear things but describe them as well.

Clare,
Thanks.

gautami tripathy said...

This would make a great song!

Deb said...

Great outcome for an interesting exercise.

sister AE said...

Gautami,
Thanks. I (of course) hear the sounds, but I'm not sure about the rhythm.

Thanks, Deb.

Janet said...

I think you did amazingly well! Thanks for stopping by my blog today; your comment got held up in spam hell, but I just released it :-)

sister AE said...

Thanks, Janet.
And I hope your spam hell is now a thing of the past!