Wednesday, March 21, 2007

ears open


{york, pennsylvania}

although i love
music
and
listen to it
constantly,
i don't like
to wear headphones
when i
am out and about-
commuting or
walking around.

my dad calls
the people
who always
have
their
headphones
on
"pod people"

me,
i like to
just listen...
in the metro
each day
i usually
knit or sketch
and listen
to sounds-
people talking...
the sound
of the metro
squeaking along...

spring is
my favorite
time of year
to keep
my ears open.
i can hear
the birds
and squirrels
getting more
active...
birds courting
sweethearts...
i swear that
i can hear
the buds burst
and
the caterpillars
start to chew.

as i walked
to the metro
from school
this evening
it was like
i could hear
dusk fall...
the quietness
that descends
on the day
like
a fog.

although
i am not
a musical person,
i feel like
there are
so many
amazing sounds
to hear...
it's a shame
not to
keep
your ears open.

but
now and then
i am cranky
and i also
put my headphones
on.

are your
ears open?
what are
you hearing?

. . . . .

here are some
collage tags
and postcards
in the works




and
a finished one


along with
some others
up in my
etsy store
if you want one
for your
very own.

have a
lovely evening.
xo

12 comments:

lisa solomon said...

right at this moment i feel my ears and eyes and heart are closed... but that is b/c i'm beat.

i love this idea though.... and the pod people... and your collages. so lovely!!

Anonymous said...

Where do you manage to find such wonderful scraps of paper??

Anonymous said...

seems like everone has those ipod things on these days. i think it's terrible for several reasons. first, you are missing out on all the sounds around you. sometimes when i think about all the sounds of the cities i have lived in i can't imagine why people would want to miss out on that, and choose someone else's soundtrack over the world around them. second, we are already plugged in enough into the system. electronic devices demand so much of your time, why would you willfully surrender that to another one? and last, music is such a great pleasure to me. it is already cheapened enough today, playing in restaurants, grocery stores, etc. does anyone actually listen to it anymore? it is so ubiquitous i dont think people even know it's there. they only notice the lack of it.

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful post. I also don't like carrying headphones outside unless I am commuting, otherwise I enjoy the sound of birds, people talking, being exposed to the surroundings and enjoying the senses and love of Spring. (your collages are lovely as always)

eshu said...

so true... all of it. i love the collages, the birds, the eggs... so very spring!

Erin Lang Norris said...

i am a very "ears open" type of person. this may have been initially brought on in my younger years- my mom would never let me leave the house with headphones unless it was for the bus ride, because of all the dangers that go along with wearing them while walking alone.

i love sitting on my balcony taking it all in...i usually save my ipod for when i am in a not-so-chipper mood or when i'm cleaning.

great collages!

f. pea said...

right now my ears are hearing the whining diesel engine of a lift-thing that the painters are using to reach the eaves of the building next door. but lately every evening as we are walking home, or settling in to read, we have been hearing a pair of great horned owls calling each other, who-who-who-who-hoooo!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful collages. The other day on our walk to a drama class we decided to listen for a whole block. The kids were amazed to find so many sounds... the rustling of leaves in the trees, birds chirping, our footsteps...

julie said...

Love love love your collages!!! Your drawings are beautiful!

Unfortunately im hearing the noise of tractors and loud digging machinery as they are putting foundations down for a new building outside!!
But this morning i heard good sounds of the sun and birds and peace :) xxx

Anonymous said...

pod people ha! thats great.
Its interesting when people choose to listen to music, I usually listen to my pod when I'm in a place where I want to escape my surroundings. I don't like to have buds in my ears if I feel unsafe, like walking around downtown, I feel scared I will miss something and be ran over, kinda silly but I really feel like my ears are my antennas.

I love those collages :)!!
xoash

shari said...

a lovely post gwen. i'm all ears on my walks too. i tried walking around with my iPod once and didn't like it. i felt so separate from the world around me. let's see. i've been hearing much more chirping in our yard and more laughter. neighbors are actually leaving their houses and sitting outside. my favorite sound is the sound that the small gravel makes as i walk on it. crunch crunch. i should record it! xo ps: beautiful collages.

amisha said...

beautiful new collages!
i also like to listen to the world around me almost all of the time... my headphones perk me up in the afternoon at work when i am lagging, or running on the treadmill when i would like to drown out the television and gym music. but the quiet of home and nature is amazingly not-quiet, i think... this morning i listened to the first birds, a neighbor's dog waking, my cats meowing till i got up to pet them, the rustling of leaves and bike wheels against pavement and gravel and the methodical sound of pedaling.