I Want to Live In Writerland

Embracing silence in a world of noise

Image purchased by the author via iStock

Lately, I’ve been listening to the High School Musical soundtrack a lot. Some bro on Instagram said it would make me live longer.

You’re thinking “oh yeah. That song ‘We’re All In This Together,’ right?” No. The deep tracks.

Scream.

Can I Have this Dance.

Humuhumunukunukuapua’a.

I listened to HSM 2 in its entirety even though everyone knows that aside from Corbyn Bleu’s baseball diamond dance, the movie is total garbage.

Usually, the pop hits play in my headphones as I take my morning walk around town. This morning, in the middle of Everyday, I felt a fuming desire for silence.

I paused the music, took one deep breath, looked up at a maple tree, and started to cry.

Instead of the dulcet, studio-altered tones of Zac Efron, I heard…

934 birds screaming about the sunrise. A power saw spinning through brick at the old post office. Tires crunching on asphalt as commuters checked another drive off the calendar. The soft click of streetlights shutting off.

I felt…

The grit of my fingerprints rubbing against one another. My orange and blue Karhu shoes scuffling…