The Chronicles of a Phonophobic

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**For Ruben O, My little Bro**

(This poem was written and a recording made for the contest sponsored by Team Poetrysoup which was deleted before it was judged.  I wonder if this would have received a placement?)

Alarming, how analog clocks can tock back, 
sound-off each morning like those hungover barflies 
at the laundromat who dive-bomb 

buzzing dryers as bleached belles 
in heels attack threadbare tiles 
with a stomach-turning, M60 click clack, 

click clack. All night cafes fare 
no better, terrify with their red-eyed twit-ter-
to-woo owls, their jingle-jangle spoons.

Heartlessly, the freaky knock-knock joke 
of a barista smacks-down the expresso machine —
grounds for a massacre behind the counter.

The plink-plunk of rainfall deafens.
Birthdays send you into a panic.  Too risky,
the onslaught of jubilation,  the grenades that wait

in overblown balloons. New Year’s Eve brings histrionics.   
Nightmarish, the yellow chimeras of construction
and every screaming chick-a-dee-dee-dee...

Ear plugs are a given.  
Heaven is a soundproof room.
Even that plan holds more than a hiccup or two.

Horror resounds everywhere.  
Babies thunder by in hot-rod strollers. 
Frightening: the gurgles, giggles, ear-splitting rattles. 

In the nursing home, an awful rasp of life    
roars behind a tissue-thin curtain,
the horrendous lisp of oxygen, so deathly loud.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2016



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Date: 5/29/2016 6:56:00 AM
i enjoyed hearing the audio with this - your voice isn't at all as i imagined! i had expected a louder, more strident voice lol...it's interesting hearing people reading their own work, it does give it an extra dimension - wish i could read mine but i lack equipment and know-how...anyway, back to this poem - again, loving the wordplay, especially in that first line "tock back" (talk back) and the double meaning of 'grounds'... that final stanza has a lot of impact...
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Date: 5/27/2016 1:40:00 PM
I've been talked to you a bit, off and off, and it recently occurred to me that I've never actually clicked on your poetry page. I found this to be quite original in its topic with clever play on words ... fitting that you end it with the most frightening sound of all ... the sound of life slowly coming to an end. Not a bad reading, either (I know you said somewhere that you've been hesitant on doing it!) ...
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Date: 5/26/2016 6:28:00 PM
Cyndi, Hiccup.... I heard many of the poems with audio. You have a very beautiful voice, the most lovely I've heard on this site. So real! I'm going to hear this one more time. Pleased to finally hear your lovely voice. SKAT
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Skat A
Date: 5/26/2016 6:28:00 PM
I have a raspy voice :)
Date: 5/23/2016 3:47:00 PM
Not only a sensational poem (which is always a given when written by you ! :)....but it was wonderful to hear your voice, Cyndi!! It makes your poem come to life even more! Loved it !!
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Date: 5/22/2016 4:51:00 PM
soul sis... you took this way out of the ball park with imagery, assonance , and tinges of onomatopoeia.. this is a magnificent Sensurround of a work, and i would love to hear you read this!.. wham!..huggs
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Date: 5/22/2016 1:53:00 PM
Unusual Metaphore laden poetry-bomb, doesn't flow but stutters , yet that feels right,...all these little Stanza's seem interchangeable, ? Clever write Cyndi,....Ian
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