Happy Tuesday everyone.  Please welcome our guest blogger, Dwight Roth, who will host our Poetics today!

Welcome to poetics at the bar. Dwight Roth here, your host asking you to consider the sounds of silence. We are looking at how silence speaks volumes, although no words are actually spoken. Think how one can live in a city of a million people yet feel silent and alone.

To illustrate this, I take you back to the late 1960s and two of the best singer songwriters of all time, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle’s. Their song, The Sounds of Silence spoke to the despair and emptiness that was prevalent during this time. The Viet Nam War was escalating and the nation was divided much as it is today. Their songs spoke to the core of the human condition. Songs like The Boxer, Homeward Bound, I am a Rock, and Bridge Over Troubled Water all rang true to many.

“Hello darkness, my old friend

I’ve come to talk with you again

Because a vision softly creeping

Left its seeds while I was sleeping

And the vision that was planted in my brain

Still remains

Within the sound of silence”

If this song is new to you, listen to the clip below and get a feel for the way we live in a world that is full of action and noise, yet often silent, when it comes to relationships. For many the darkness closes in and it feels like the only way out is to check out.

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Here are a couple of other poems that describe silence:

My poems are more

my silence than my speech.

Just as music is a kind of

quiet. Sounds are needed

only to unveil the various

layers of silence.

~Anna Kamienska~

****************************

Silence

I catch the pattern
of your silence
before you speak

I do not need
to hear a word.

In your silence
every tone I seek
is heard.

~Langston Hughes~

Your challenge for today is to write a poem about the human condition that eludes to silence, especially the sounds of silence. What is being said when nothing is spoken and no sound is being made? Think of the ways people cry out for help and attention in their actions.

If this is your first time, here’s how to join:

• • Write a poem of your choice that includes silence
  • Post it on your personal site/blog
  • Copy your link onto the Mr. Linky
  • Remember to click the small checkbox about data protection.
  • Read and comment on some of your fellow poets’ work
  • Like and leave a comment below if you choose to do so
  • Have fun!

About our guest blogger:

Dwight is a retired elementary school teacher. He started writing poetry for an open mic poetry group in 2013. This developed into the writing and self-publishing four memoirs of his childhood, and four books of poetry. He started his word press blog two years ago and publishes his photos and a poem each day. A year ago he began writing for the dVerse poetry prompts, where he is further developing his poetry skills. He lives with his wife Ruth near Charlotte, NC.