Thursday, May 30, 2024

Sounds

There is an itch in my throat

Dry cough, ugh,ugh,ugh

Bubbles up my cheeks

I gulp it down with water

Trying not embarrass myself

In an open space office with cubicles

All around me, the office buzzes

of tapping of keys and busy fingers, 

Snapping of headphones

I catch snippets of small & serious talk


This is nothing compared to

the summer construction outside-

Snarling buzzing of equipments

Clanging chinging of metal on metal

Whizzing of sand & dust & pollen

Screeching brakes of trucks

Beeping horns from impatient drivers

The city is a hive of buzzing energy


I sigh

At the end of the work day

After being enveloped in 

The chug-chug-grating of train wheels

I step into the garden

Splattered with light and flowers

Chirp-chirp goes the birds

Zip-zoom for the bees

Ringing laugher of children from the park

Humming, tinkling from trees & leaves

My plants are greening & grinning

It is a good summer day



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub- MTB by host Bjorn Rudberg, where we are incorporating sounds in our poem, Onamatopoeia.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.  Thank you for your comments and visits.


19 comments:

  1. I can feel that sigh of relief from the garden in the last stanza, love the energy in the sound of the building (though it would be nightmare to have when trying to work. I hope that cough gets better...

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  2. Oh this is absolutely beautiful, Grace! I especially love; "I step into the garden/Splattered with light and flowers/Chirp-chirp goes the birds/Zip-zoom for the bees." 💖💖

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  3. such relief at the end there Grace - the contrast is profound and from now on I will always see "greening & grinning" plants

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  4. I enjoyed the sounds of the office, Grace, mainly because I haven’t had to spend time in one for years. Your poem brought back the ‘tapping of keys and busy fingers, snapping of headphones’ and ‘snippets of small & serious talk’. I wouldn’t like to hear the noise of construction, but I still enjoy the ‘chug-chug-grating of train wheels’ – although not as much as the sounds of the garden.

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  5. I can almost feel the whirling sund...nice stuff..

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  6. Grace, you're surrounded with so much activity! I don't know how you manage to survive without your head falling off! I love the ending of your poem. Whew!

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  7. Grace you do a good job of showing contrast between the spaces you exist within. I felt such relief when you got home.

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  8. I love this Grace. You contrasts and descriptions are wonderful.
    I am glad you can come home to your little Shangri la.

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  9. Aw, such a wonderful ending. Well done to capture so many sounds, of so many types.

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  10. To escape to your garden after a noisy day is paradise!

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  11. Last stanza is my favourite, it's so beautiful.

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  12. Grace, you've captured my life! I laughed out loud in the first stanza - been there! I'm in an office setting and while I have my own office these days, I still suffer from the need to squelch sounds like coughs (or stomach growls, ick!) in meeting rooms. And there's road noise on the commute and neighbors using the loudest leaf blowers available to the universe when I get home. But there's also that lovely lovely lovely time in the yard in the early morning when all is quiet except the birds.

    Now, about the poem itself: love the feeling of the plants 'greening and grinning'. "splattered with light' and 'snippets of small and serious talk' are some of my favorite phrases. You really nailed this one!

    Awesome!

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  13. "The city is a hive of buzzing energy"
    then
    "Chirp-chirp goes the birds
    Zip-zoom for the bees" Two different energies and reactions. You really helped me here a slice of your life.

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  14. Wow!!! So many sounds in there.
    Much♡love

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  15. Hi Grace, a lovely cacophony of sound and visual imagery.

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  16. After the clamor of the city, you make us feel what an oasis is your garden! Beautifully written, Grace.

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  17. After all the grating city noises what a relief to be in an oasis of sweet sounds. What a lovely write, Grace.

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  18. I so enjoyed this, Grace! The sounds of the garden sound sweeter after all the city noises.

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