Sound of silence

As an introvert, certain sounds overwhelm me completely. The sound of thrash metal makes me want to curl up into a ball and rock gently until it stops. Now I don’t mind loud music, as long as it’s not too ‘busy’. Unpleasant noises make me physically uncomfortable. (Polystyrene, chalk-board scratching etc) and it makes me wonder if I have some sort of bizarre syndrome. I hate large crowds of people. I get irrationally angry in libraries. I’ve been known to look at someone as if they’ve just kidnapped my firstborn for speaking above a whisper when I’m studying. I avoid my Uni library for fear of my own sanity, times have changed, there’s no concept of quiet in there.

From children's parties I emerge, shell shocked, pale and broken for days. I can cope with small groups, but it large crowds I mute. I get sensory overload, both visual and aural but it helps if I can focus on an individual element of something. This is why I enjoy the Blackpool Dead Good Poets. I can focus on the speaker on the microphone, the soothing rhythm of their words which carries the sounds and meaning along. It’s soothing. I think rhythm, not necessarily rhyme, but definitely rhythms, can help the oral performance of poetry.

It’s not that I dislike sound, I enjoy music intensely, and therein I think is the problem. Noise, a cacophony of noise particularly, is disorderly and I can’t cope with it. I don’t think many would find it enjoyable either, but there is always someone. Extroverts tend to need external stimulation so I suppose it wouldn’t bother them a great deal. But when it is constructed properly, well patterned and rhythmic, it becomes beautiful. Poetry, song, constructed sound, takes skill, a good ear and talent. Anything else is just noise.