beneath the speaker, can mean so very much.

boston. sitting beneath the speaker in a coffeeshop, which is playing really bad electronic music, really loudly, making it terribly difficult to write. i try the headphones with music i wish to hear, but cannot drown out the sound. i attempt to move away from the speaker, but there appears to be only one outlet anywhere in this place, and both the cell phone and the computer need juice. so i remain. i also happen to be a foot or so from the restroom, which smells quite poorly. sour and damp. rank.

we arrived last night and stumbled around the city in the dark for a bit, ducking under doorways to avoid the torential downpour. i have seemingly lost count of the number of times we have sat inside somewhere, escpaing the rain, and seen a "severe weather alert" on the television, warning people to remain at home due to the severity of the storm. sigh. thusly, boston finds us trapped on newbury street, with our bikes hiding in a parking garage.

ok, i here ask that the universe please make them turn this music off. please. why do they think, on a cold and rainy night, in a tiny little cafe, i/we want to be bombarded with electronic music so loud, that mike and i cannot hear each other speak? hmmmmmmm.

there is no break in it. this is now my world, this music. the repetition and volume of this mess, keep the words locked within. the words, the words. the story of checking in and then checking back out five minutes later from the hostel. being moved by the cops on the green at brown university. merlin, one of the world's great bike mechanics, who was strangely enough, walking by at 2am and offered his home. the wondrous stories he has. sleeping last night by the river and waking to the joggers in the morning. rain rain rain. loud music which i can no longer take. loud loud loud. the sky is again a stream of lights. my clothing, again soaked through. this trip a river in so many ways.

alas, these sensitive ears of mine.

Posted by jeff pitcher at August 21, 2004 05:17 PM

....................................