Onomatopoeia on the MTA (Subway Song)
Opening of "Somewhere", Music by Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Sheila Moore working with dVerse Poets Pub has a wonderful poetics prompt on onomotopoeia today. Boom! A great excuse to escape from the heaviness that has characterized my recent posts. (I am also linking this to Victoria C. Slotto’s poetry blog, liv2write2day, which has a prompt about music and words.)
The following is an old sonnet, posted before (sorry!), but somewhat revised. I’m not sure that it quite qualifies as onomotopoeic poetry, but it does focus on sound, in this case an eerie music made by track and train car at certain subway stations on the IRT Lexington Avenue line.
“Somewhere” on the MTA
The subway sings its broken refrain:
the opening bars of “Theeeere’s aaa Plaaaace
For Us” from West Side Story. The train
croons the first three notes as it leaves the dais
of the platform, the tune subsiding
then to squeak and wind and roar as we race
to a-harmonic levels, soon riding
at a speed without space for Bernstein’s trace
of tragic lovers defiant of fate
and family. Yet…at every station…
there’s a plaace—again. Who of those who wait
hear the song of that longed-for destination,
harmonic haven–beyond how, beyond where–
amazed that the Six Train nearly takes them there?
I am also linking this post to Gooseberry Garden’s Poetry Picnic. (The prompt relates to NYTimes headlines–the subway? Hmmm…)
Explore posts in the same categories: poetryTags: Leonard Bernstein sonnet, manicddaily, onomatopoeia in poetry, sonnet about song "Somewhere", sonnet about train sounds, subway song sonnet
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ManicDDaily 
January 7, 2012 at 9:47 pm
A wonderful sonnet. I love sonnets.
January 7, 2012 at 10:46 pm
ha i’d say yes you qualify….love the singing of that train..i am rather fond of the city sounds personally…this was very nice…
January 8, 2012 at 4:28 am
Owch! I was so taken up by the cleverness of what you’ve done that I completely missed the fact that it was a sonnet. Brilliance multiplied.
January 8, 2012 at 7:02 am
love how you mingle bernstein with the subway…music in the everyday of commuting…nice..
January 8, 2012 at 7:21 am
it was live!
January 8, 2012 at 12:58 pm
I’ll never forget the high-pitched squealing of those subway trains in Boston…you took me back there with your wonderful post.
January 8, 2012 at 3:07 pm
this is wonderful! I especially love the “squeak and wind and roar as we race
to a-harmonic levels.”
thanks so much for taking the time to play with us today 🙂
January 8, 2012 at 3:26 pm
you get a real sense on NYC in this, including the 6 train and Bernstein
January 8, 2012 at 4:32 pm
I really like this. Conveys a great sense of sound and movement.
January 8, 2012 at 7:09 pm
Enjoyed this!
January 11, 2012 at 10:32 pm
Wow, Karin. I love this. I’m glad to have this experience (second hand) of the MTA. This is onomatopoeia the way it should be done.
January 12, 2012 at 3:59 am
Love it, love it, love it! I used to love the sounds of the London Underground.
January 24, 2012 at 8:14 pm
amazing one, well done.
🙂