hear the room

a poem about listening differently

Hello gentle-people,

I am thankful for the engagement with the newsletter from two weeks ago. It was a growing edge for me, writing something more extensive than I usually do for this platform and putting it behind a paywall. I may do it more often, as I find inspiration.

The offer is still open to creative BIPOC for a free trial (longer than the default 7-day trial that already exists). All you have to do is reach out with your email.

I have been listening to my Spotify-wrapped playlist all week, recalling all this year has been. Music has always helped me make sense of the present, honor the past, and dream of the future. Each year, the experience of having this app sum up my listening habits and report them to me has been fun.

This week, I also caught a glimpse of some future-oriented elements of my job, which set my imagination going in serious and silly ways. This involved seeing the inside of a company that is always innovating and changing how we experience our daily lives.¹

So as it goes, I had all these things in my mind as I took a walk to get some ice cream, and this poem was born.

hear the room

A quick Google search told me
The ice cream store would be open 
At 3pm on the first day of December 

I stood up with certainty and walked on over
To find it closed
And my legs still taking steps forward 
Til my certainty and I stood in
The window of a typewriter shop 

My nose met the smell of ink
As I opened the door 
And I was surrounded by 
Keys that used to sing 

Suddenly it made sense to 
Take out my AirPods and
Hear the room 

In the same week the future 
And the past both played 
Their favorite songs for me 

Spotify could not have wrapped this

A picture from the typewriter shop.

Landing Tracks

1. What would it sound like for you to “hear the room?” To walk into a space you’ve never been to before, and let the sounds and smells overwhelm you? What songs does that room “sing?”

2. Explore the idea of expectations versus reality in the poem, like the closed ice cream store. How can moments of disappointment or surprise contribute to helping you listen differently?

1. Sorry folks, that’s all you’ll get. The details remain in the safety of the group chat.