Wednesday, June 12, 2013

SILENCE IS NOT A CURSE


When I am fortunate enough
to not hear hail that is made of lead,
and the nattering of squirrels instead
to hear birds chattering away at dawn
rather than a fifty thousand watt kicker box
pulsing my window glass with its fucking
ten thousand dollar brawn;
I know that silence is not a curse.

When I hear a lone woodpecker
getting a bite to eat from untended trees
Instead of someone say
“motherfucking bitch,
I’ll punk your ass all over the street,”
as the human world wakes at mid-day.
I know silence is not a curse.

The few times I am fortunate to only hear leaves
breezily applauding the show of the residents
that live among them avoiding stupid humans
rather than the rarely ending vaudeville acts
of the untalented attention whores
I am surrounded by in scores.
I know silence is not a curse.

It is the noise of birds, squirrels and leaves,
that is as close to silence as it gets in this city
and that is when I am assured
silence is not a curse.

© M Durfee
6/12/13

23 comments:

  1. they are a nice kind of silence in comparison....come sit on my porch, they run a symphony here....i'll even throw in some coffee...and wont even call you a punk ass if you drink the whole pot...smiles...

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  2. Not a curse indeed. Silence is golden.

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    1. Carleton I think someone forgot to send most of my slum neighbors the memo.

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  3. A change of pace. Nicely written. I can think of one silence that is harsh on the ears ~ when someone says "I love you" and the other makes no reply.

    Do you write every day? in the early morning when birds sing and leaves rustle?

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    1. Melinda I'd rather be entertained by silence than a lie. truth needs no words.

      Do I write every day? *shrug* I write a lot but no not everyday and yes I do prefer getting my lazy ass out of bed around 2am but round here even in the middle of the nights the negative aspect of noise is oft much more prevalent than the positive.

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    2. Ok, I think you are correct...always better to have the truth. And, "better to have loved and lost..." blah blah :)

      More more question. Why do you and your better half stay there? Sorry, but I am a curious wretch.

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  4. I'm a huge fan of silence. Perhaps just the sound of tapping of keys as I work.

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    1. Charles I don't type fast enough for that to be a melodic rhythm for me. If I liked my slight noises in fits and starts...

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  5. That last verse, lovely Mark ~

    We are blessed to live in a quiet community, surrounded by a park and the sounds of these little animals are music to my city ears.

    Have a good week ~

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    1. Thank you Grace.

      A quiet community? I understand what the words mean but have very little experience of their actual practice.

      You have a wonderful week as well.

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  6. I remember moving into the city area where I was excited to hear noise. All my life I lived in the country up in the woods and was burdened with silence. But, as years went on, I was annoyed with "noise" --- the sirens, the screaming, the yelling of domestic violence and people fighting on the street. When I came back to the 'woods' ----- I now appreciate every bit of silence I get. No neighbors running down the stairs like a pack of elephants. Just silence, frogs, crickets and now, the cicadas. I'm content with it. Sometimes the grass looks greener.

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  7. ah yes, the natural sounds of the natural world where we naturally live.

    i need this at least some of the time. i love the pulse of big cities and the company of others but the quiet of being alone with birds and critters is so important to me i think it must be essential

    nice rhyming, nice poem mark

    love
    kj

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    1. I thought I needed it too kj but seeing as I had to cancel my vacation to stay here and listen to the "natural" noises of the clamor, I guess needs are not need based.

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  8. Lovely ... and so true ... have felt exactly the same when ever I visit Vic, BC ... ever been there? So lovely in the early morning hours ... sleeping by the ocean ... waking up by the ocean ... toodeling off to Mc Donalds for a big breakfast ... or at least half of it ... PS: there is a lot of got deals in the garbage bin ... haven't caught any bugs yet :) Be well, bro :)

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    1. Catwoman--yep Been to VC BC once a millennium ago. I generally speaking preferred the tree line but the beach was an OK spot for a rest. Those were days before there was a McDonald's or other chain every quarter mile along the Queens Highway.

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  9. I live over a railroad track, with four commuter trains in the morning, as well as four at night.
    I publicly complained about the claxon horns going to a zillion decibels eight times a day.
    Some idiot wrote in, "Why would you want to live over a railroad track?"
    I tried to avoid the instictive response.

    What the hell.

    "Oh the railroad runs through the middle of the house
    the middle of the house."

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    1. But what a spectacular trade off Ivan...you live in the depot but the commute to the commuter train is mere steps away.

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  10. Sound can be such an intrusion or it can such a welcome relief. I wish good sounds for you, Mark.

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  11. I love the way you've captured those magical moments of ear-splitting noise of nature in the silence of humans. Lovely!

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  12. The birds are making a racket this morning because I turned on the sprinklers to water the flowers. The house is silent though because my wife is away for a week. No voices here. Just me, the birds, the dogs, the cats, and the wild mammals.

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  13. Mark, in your hood silence would be scary and totally unnatural. I love to sit in just nature's music. My head tends to get too full otherwise. I really liked this one. xo

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So Walking Man I was thinking...