top of page

That Other Sound

swhitby8

Scott Whitby, 2023


All my life, music to me was the words. I did not understand the rest of the sound. I like the stories and all that sound just made it hard to hear them. I wanted to know the rest of 'Killing Me Softly' and what became of 'Mr. Bojangles', in words.


I dreamed of making music but I thought the other sound could be made only by certain people. I thought you could either make it or you could not and I could not...that you were born with it or you were not. I couldn't tap my foot right. How could I ever make sound like that?


One day, inspired, I wondered if I put my fingers in the right place at the right time could I make the rest of the sound? I could memorize where to put my fingers and when to put them there. That must be the way certain people do it, really.


I started trying. Putting my fingers in the right place was not so hard. Putting them there at the right time was. But it was intoxicating. Then, as soon as I began to put them there at the right time and sing the story, my fingers would stop moving altogether.


I am learning to make that other sound the same way I learned everything else. I am grabbing it and holding it down until it quits fighting back. I know it will give up. Everything I have learned did. I learn things that way and it is a good way to learn, especially things that are hard.


I am going to keep trying. I will never know what those certain people know...the ones who can tap their foot right. I still think you can either make that other sound or you cannot. But I also think you can be one of those certain people if you hold on to it until it quits fighting back.


It fights back hard though. Real hard.

 
 
 

Recent Posts

See All

Songs In The Kitchen

Scott Whitby and Chelsea Stallings, 2023 She hated to cook but she did it anyway A slave to the kitchen for 3 meals a day Did all the...

Sweet Mom

Scott Whitby, 2023 The most cherished of my childhood memories is waking up in a cold room without the wherewithal to find my cover. ...

You Are, I Am (Poem)

Scott Whitby, 2023 I'm black and white You're red and blue I'm gray at best Not purple like you You are a poem I’m only a word You tell...

Kommentare


Short Poems and Stories

©2023 by Short Poems and Stories . Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page