SILVYN PLINGE, 48, CANARSIE
Sound of the Sidewalk: What, precisely, is the Sound of the Sidewalk?
I believe that the sound of the sidewalk comes from the homeless. They know the sidewalks, and the sidewalks know them. That is what I’m trying to get across to my students.
Where do you teach?
The New School of Social Research. I teach a poetry class.
And you’re suggesting to your students that homeless people know more about poetry than your students?
I never said that. But poetry comes from the sidewalks, and homeless people live on and about the sidewalks, so I guess I did say that. But I didn’t.
BUCK “SANDPAIL” BURNETT, 48, PERTH AMBOY
Sound of the Sidewalk: What, precisely, is the Sound of the Sidewalk?
The sound of the sidewalk is all kinda cars goin’ on and sometimes a seagull. Sometimes I eat corn chips and all I can hear is my own crunchin’. But I guess the sound of the sidewalk would be people talkin’. People are always talkin’.
Buck—
—It’s Sandpail, thank you.
OK, Sandpail, you are talking to me right now. Are you the sound of the sidewalk?
No…I guess it’s just cars and seagulls.
MIRIAM QUARDBORD, 44, OYSTER BAY
Sound of the Sidewalk: What, precisely, is the Sound of the Sidewalk?
As a crypto-lesbian neo-beatnik, I believe the sound of the sidewalk is the sound of the oppressed.
Are you oppressed, Miriam? I could try to do something…
The day I take help from you is the day I resign my identity as a Cryptlesneobeat, and my community would have an unwarming deal to say about that, Mister!
Sorry, I think. So as far as the sound of the sidewalk goes…
The sidewalk is oppressed. So are sounds. I’m oppressed along with them, and what would you know about it, Mr. Man?
HIRAM KEEKIE, 39, EAST HAMPTON
Sound of the Sidewalk: What, precisely, is the Sound of the Sidewalk?
I think the sound of the sidewalk is the sound of a middle-class fellow raised in an urban environment who lacks, or at some time lacked, the wherewithal to voice his justifiable anger. To that end, he, and it most often a he, turns to vandalism and crime out of frustration, just as sure as my name is Hiram Keekie. That’s Keekie with a “K.”
THANE SCHRIMPTAIL, 26, BRONX
Sound of the Sidewalk: What, precisely, is the Sound of the Sidewalk?
The sound of the sidewalk? I got your “Sound of the Sidewalk” RIGHT HERE! (points downward)
Ummm…you’re kinda pointing at the sidewalk.
That was the point I was trying to make.
—SOUND OF THE SIDEWALK
I have heard the Sound of the Sidewalk. It is the sound of the people united. It is the sound of hope, change, and a better tomorrow. It is the sound of revolution. It is the sound of global brotherhood. It is the sound of unity. It is the sound of communal lentil-soup flatulence at an Occupy camp at 3AM.
Quite obviously, the Sound of the Sidewalk is that of a sensitive person’s ponytail rustling gently across their shoulders as they walk the streets in search of justice for all.
I hear it, too. It is somewhere between a pulsation and a vibration. It is a pulbration.
THE UNDERRRRRRRTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR