Posts Tagged ‘sound’
ordinary magic
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ordinary magic
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small blue jar
emptied of face cream
reveals a false bottom when held to the light
a bright inverted inner shell
hovers untouchable
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the peel of an orange
spurts flammable oil
cantrips of fire
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press a shell to your ear
murmur of ocean
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Copyright 2015 Jane Tims
moment of beautiful – shadow on the snow
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under the snow
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the shadow is a blue portal, a hidden way
to crocus places, sheltered where no drifting
snow or bitter wind comes howling
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frost-brittle maples creak
and chickadees crack seeds
of sunflower stashed
in tunnels shaped
by squirrels
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Copyright 2015 Jane Tims
sounds in the silence #1
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.
the branches of one tree grate against the bark of the other
fear of heights
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as dizzying to look up
in the forest
as down
into the abyss
the trees taper so
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they lean
birch
against fir
rubbed raw
where branches touch
and reach for one another
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and sudden, wrenching sounds
a branch swings back or breaks
loosened by a squirrel
or burdened where crows complain
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or where a warbler scolds
teacher teacher teacher
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© Jane Tims 1996
