i have never known silence
I grew up with noise
I woke up to kitchen utensils clanking/ my grandmother humming in the kitchen/ the sound of slippers against the wooden floor/ Click / Cars honking/ the streets too narrow and weathered/ just enough space for my bike to make it through, tires catching in the crevices/ Click / I grew up with laughter/ the sound of the skipping rope hitting grass/ and my friends cheering, we can run more, we can jump more, we can do more, this moment will last forever/ Click / And then I slept with the noise of rain in monsoon/ the night-guard blowing his whistle to stop the stray dogs from barking/ the lull of the fan, my father murmuring a prayer / Click, whoosh! Clang! / and there goes the cymbal-banging monkey toy, the one that I got from the toy vendor outside my school, the one that you had to wind up and anticipate, the epitome of noise as its cymbals reverberate/ Clang! Clang! Clang!
And now it’s all quiet, and I can hear everything. I can hear my thoughts, and I can hear my voice, and I’m not all sure whether I like how I sound.
Eva Dhar
Grade: 11 / Sec. V
Markham District High School
Markham, ON
“I wanted to capture the feeling of growing up in a place completely different from where you are now, and show the contrast between the different lifestyles. I wanted to express the rush of childhood memories, how they can sometimes be overwhelming, yet still instil a feeling of nostalgia. ”
Bio
Eva Dhar is a grade 11 student from Markham who has always had a passion for writing stories and poems that express a part of herself. Besides poetry, she likes cats, the colour pink, and watching video essays. Originally from India, she hopes her work helps readers feel understood .