sound | nichepoetryandprose

nichepoetryandprose

poetry and prose about place

Posts Tagged ‘sound’

moment of beautiful – shadow on the snow

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under the snow

the shadow is a blue portal, a hidden way

to crocus places, sheltered where no drifting

snow or bitter wind comes howling

frost-brittle maples creak

and chickadees crack seeds

of sunflower stashed

in tunnels shaped

by squirrels

Written by jane tims

February 18, 2015 at 7:36 am

Posted in a moment of beautiful, strategies for winter, wild life

Tagged with Chickadee, poetry, snow, sound, squirrel, winter

If niche has colour, it also has sound. Some of those sounds are soothing, the sound of a babbling brook, or the wind in the Red Pine. Some sounds are alarming, the cry of a child, or the squeal of brakes. At my office, there are multiple sounds in the background – people talking, computers whirring, copiers copying, printers printing. When there is a power outage, I am amazed at the silence of the building, and wonder how I can possibly work with all the noise.

When I can’t sleep, I turn to a trick my Mom taught me – I count the sounds in the sleeping house. Last week, a welcome sound was added to the usual repertoire, the three part hoot of a Great Horned Owl. Hoo-Hoo-Hoo Hoo-o Hoo-o. It was a gentle but penetrating sound and it ruled the night. The owl hooted three times at about five minute intervals and then I fell asleep.

Not long ago I went for a walk in the grey woods and heard a sound I have heard so often before, the grating squeal of two trees rubbing together. These trees, a Balsam Fir and a Grey Birch, have tried to grow into the same space and now they reproach one another in an endless competition.