Sounds

I am sure I will never be able to describe the sounds of this place.There is a small hill above the house where I am living, a little clearing where I have spent hours of my time, not because it is special in any particular way, but because it is where I can get a decent phone signal, and it is as good a spot as any to listen to the sounds of the bush.

The trees on that hill are alive with noise. Tiny colorful creatures tooting, tweating, twerping. Call the sounds what you will, but Bird calls do not make for good words. You can try: "chew chew...chew chew", "weet, weet, weet", "pwoy pwoy...pwoy pwoy", "beeng beengbeeng", "kook kook...kooook", or "wawawawawa". However, birds do not whistle in vowels and consonants; rather they sing in natural melodies and surprising harmonies, and the lyrics are less important than the notes themselves. And, of course, the music of calls can not be recorded in prose anymore than the taste of wine can be represented in mathematics. Some calls are exotic, like noises from a Star Wars movie or sounds from a computer gone crazy. Others are familiar like the"caw caw" of crows and the "cock a doodle doo" of the rooster. (The cock on the farm here unfortunately has a hard time reading his watch though. The crazy thing sounds at 1 am most nights.) These birds of the bush make a constant chorus, and the beauty of it is hard to miss.

Other noises accompany the days as well. Flies, wasps, bees, and mosquitoes whiz in annoying tones. The buzz of their wings is as aggravating to the ear as the flapping of a bird wing in flight is pleasant.Sometimes I sit to read or write and am driven to flinch so often I feel epileptic. I had hoped that somehow I would grow accustomed, or at least less sensitive, to the bug noises and the tickles of their legs on my skin, and I guess I have a bit, but even today I went on a wasp killing spree using my notebook as a weapon to wipe out five in one sitting.

Then there are the farm sounds. Cows make that bellowing belly noise we call "moo". And goats make my ears laugh. One young female sounds so much like a woman crying and moaning I have mistaken it twice. The older male is aggressively horny, shaking his head, wagging his tongue grotesquely, and begging to mate. It seems like some joke of nature.There are the tin sounds of constantly dinging bells, the ones worn around the necks of animals as they go out to pasture. The farm also is home to a pack of scroungy mutts who constantly howl and fight for food, or maybe just for fun. They often slam each other against the walls and doors of the house so violently there is nothing to do but laugh in disbelief. I sometimes suspect the dirty dogs are mauling one another to death and the wood is so thin it seems like they are in the room with me.