The Sound of Music
canopy bed
—with gratitude for my hearing aids
we are lullabyed
by rhythmic trill as we read
in bed—gray treefrogs’
fricative surround-sound soon
gentles us into slumber
—dotty seiter
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2.25 x 2.25″; watercolor, pencil, and collage on paper
paper-tile unit from a living work in progress
2026
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Notes about poem and art:
• Though I strongly wanted the treefrog music as sound track for my dreams throughout each night, I couldn’t sleep with hearing aids in—they were too uncomfortable physically, and the amplification of proximal snoring overpowered the frogs’ trilling, but while we read before turning out lights? SO much gratitude for Phonak technology! Hence, this little tanka about our “canopy bed.”
• I have been referring collectively to the paper-tile units I’ve been showcasing recently as a living work in progress. It is alive in two locations currently. At home I am taking each tile cut from my June vacation start and developing it individually. At Takodah, Caroline is receiving the tiles one at a time via United States Post and is most likely thumb-tacking them in whatever arrangement pleases her on the wall beside her cabin bed. I like thinking of the process as the Growing Season of this particular painting.
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12 responses to “The Sound of Music”
Smiling as I read that your favorite line is gentles us into slumber. This tanka was originally a haiku. The haiku went through considerable tinkering, revising, and experimenting. Was ‘finished.’ Until it wasn’t. I decided to expand it to a tanka. More tinkering, revising, and experimenting. That gentles us into slumber took its sweet time coming to be those precise four words!
Fun to have you celebrate the fun I’m having in the growing season of this current artwork in progress! Thanks, MaryAnn!
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Totally agree with with Mary Ann, your way with words is remarkable! I also love ending four words, I can almost feel you drifting off.
Curious about that new technology. How is the Phonak technology different from regular hearing aids?
what a wonderful creation that can be arranged and re-arranged as your heart desires!
Thanks for your affirming words, Carol! And, again, fun to hear that the ending four words in canopy bed resonated with you, too. Can’t tell you how much I enjoy insect and tree-frog concerts in the summer months!
Phonak is no more than the brand of hearing aid I wear. There could well be technology beyond what I’ve been using for the past six years.
The arrange-and-rearrange nature of my current work in progress appeals to me, too. I’m curious as to how Caroline might arrange the pieces once back home.
Dotty! THIS!
fricative surround-sound
I keep repeating it over and over – rhythmic, percussive!
Living in the city, we fall asleep to the sound of night trains, drag racers, sirens and the occasional startled crow. What I wouldn’t give for the sound of frogs…
Love the tiles, love the process and how they pass from one place to another, disassembling and reassembling in another place.
Woot woot for your love of fricative surround-sound! When this tanka used to be a haiku the only way I could keep fricative in the poem (and it was not gonna leave under my watch) was to make it into a contraction (fric’tive) or break a rule and add a 6th syllable to the final line. fric’tive just wasn’t floating my boat and, while I’m happy to break rules, that 6th syllable niggled just enough that I took a whole new look at the poem in its entirety, and breathed it into what became an entirely satisfying tanka instead : )
Night trains would appeal to me (though, of course, probably not w/o hearing aids!), but drag racers would have me hankering for the music of tree frogs, methinks.
Thank you again for loving these paper tiles and all the fun they’re having on the playground.
xoxo
Early this morning I woke to the sounds of crashing, scary thunder. It was lovely! I rolled over and let it lull me back to sleep.
I love Growing Season. The reference to sky, earth, maybe berries or tomatoes, and tasty green vegetables. I love the thought that your selections are being pieced back together in a new arrangement by your granddaughter. I love that for each tile, there are two connected stories.
Magical. xoxo
Love hearing what sounds lulled you back to sleep in the night! Lovely indeed.
Love having you tell me back the story of the two connected stories of my own work in progress! Thank you!
Creativity in practice and the connections that come with that … yup: magical!
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