Sound Poem Project

During this season, I have been trying to listen intently to the sounds around me. When Laura Shovan advertised her Sound Poem Project, I realized that this would fit in nicely with my goal to follow one little word to guide my journey. For tonight's writing exercise, I listened to a sound clip from Day 21 of Laura's project to become inspired to write an initial entry.  Since I have been following the posts, it was time to devote a blog post to the interpreting of sounds found in Laura's project.   

In yoga, we listen to our breath to hear the sound and allow it to direct our practice. Similarly, I wanted to listen to a sound prompt multiple times to see what it was offering me before I wrote. Although the clip is captioned Colin Huehns Asia Collection, I had a totally different image in mind while listening. Perhaps, my thoughts stemmed from a brief idea that we would travel to New York City today to enjoy Chinese New Year. Since it snowed again, this idea was put aside.  As an alternative, I decided to write about what New York City would be like in the springtime. 

For those who know New York City, it is a vibrant place. One of the most impressive sights in the city is Central Park in springtime. Every inch of space at the entrance to the park is occupied when spring is in the air. Street vendors display their wares as do the food carts. The buggy rides are lined up for those who wish a leisurely ride, and people are everywhere enjoying the opening days of a new season. In sorting through my collection of antique postcards, I found one titled, Terraces in Central Park, New York, dated 1910. Diane Mayr actually gave me the idea to have a postcard as a background for writing and Laura Shovan told me that her 2013 Sound Poem project was built around vintage postcards. 

Today's sound clip reminded me of a springtime day in Central Park. There is so much buzz outside and inside the park when the weather breaks. The zoo is thronged with families and the park is filled with leisurely walkers and sprinting joggers. The buggy ride horses are splendidly arrayed in flowers and silken coats. To recreate a portion of that scene based on the sound clip, I wrote two thoughts, one in rhyme and one in free verse. As always, I am open to comments to improve my writing style. 

Thank you Laura for pushing me on to try something new.