The vuvuzelas are not just a collective drone in a literal sense or an audio sense. As phenomena, they become a metaphor underlying my whole trip. Everything else I experience while traveling in Düsseldorf—the sites, the history, the people, and the way in which childhood memories come spiraling back to the current moment—begins to feel like a grand set of resonances harmonizing the vuvuzelas.

I was here to attend the Bobeobi International Festival of Sound Poetry. If you're not familiar with Sound Poetry, it's a form of poetry based on the sounds of the speaking voice, rather than words and semantics.