The Poetry of Language

On my very first post in this blog, in February, 2012, I introduced myself with these words:

 I have always enjoyed words in both their sound and sense.  I enjoy the very sound of such words as

“windowsill,” “Cinderella,” “sassafras,” and, my recent favorite “hydrochlorothiazide”. 

 

Anyone out there who likes words just for their sounds?'

 

A few weeks ago at the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival, I was delighted that B.K. Loren and Juliet Patterson presented at The Eleventh Hour on Thursday, June 13.

 

They talked about using poetry in writing fiction and non-fiction. They pointed out that early language (both oral and written--as in pictographs) was rich in poetry and image. Poets are skilled in paying attention to both the sound and the meaning of each word.

Prose writers would do well to pay attention to the poetic line in the prose we write.
Poets are looking for the word with the emotional impact to match what they wish to convey.

Every word has a natural onomatopia-- the formation of the word by imitating sound.
     Common examples are "buzz." "tick-tock," and "bang."


B.K spoke of the emotional difference between the words:

BIG  and

 

HUGE.



 

The second conveys a greater vastness than the first.

 

It was fun to listen to these two writers confirm that liking the sound of words is a poetic attribute we all might seek to use. So I'll ask again:

 

Anyone out there who likes words just for their sounds?

 

 

 

 

I've been too busy writing to write

The past ten days I have been at the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival for two classes.

I met some fascinating people and read some very fine writing by members of Sarah Saffian's memoir class and Eric Goodman's life essay class.

You'll hear more about it as I get more time to process lectures, lessons and events.

For now, I just want to recommend the experience to you. There are six one-week sessions and that many week-end session. It is well worth your time and money if you are or would like to be a writer.

Planning for Summer

Here I sit on the third day of April dreaming of the spring and summer adventures ahead:

•  Family visits on our April trip: son, daughter-in-law, brother, sisters-in-law, niece, daughter and six grandkids..What a joy to look forward to seeing them all.
• Iowa Summer Writing Festival at the University of Iowa in June, a week spent with my college roommate from Wooster's Class of 1956. Could we really be that old?
• Heartland Theater in Platteville, WI, performances of "Fiddler on the Roof" with grandson Quinn in the cast.
• Visit here with my daughter Becky and grandchildren, Lillie and Russell. Other visits from the Wisconsin grands as well, of course.
• Presentations for Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) on Medicare for a local audience.
• Publishing of my book TOO MUCH LEFT UNSAID in June.
• Visits to local bookstores and libraries to promote my book.
• Activities at Church for the 150th Anniversary Year.

And before I know it--Fall, Thanksgiving, Christmas again. 

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

On the Road Again

This afternoon I am going to Iowa City for the Iowa Summer Writing Festival.  It will be my second week there this year, this time in a class for "Advanced Novel." There are so many interesting people that go over to Iowa City and it is fun to meet and talk with many of them.  Teachers, reporters, event coordinators, lawyers, and many other fields, all of them writers in various stages of their development. 

I started going over for a week at a time in 2009 when my college roommate from 50+ years ago agreed to come out from the Washington, DC area and attend with me.  That fall I began writing my novel, now titled TOO MUCH LEFT UNSAID. It has gone through numerous revisions including having it workshopped several times at ISWF.  I must say that it gets better with every revision, so I have hopes that soon I will be able to say it is finished.

In the course of May and June this year I have flown to the Pacific Northwest with a group of Road Scholars, where we visited Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria, and San Juan Islands.  We rode trains, ferries, buses, vans, and walked, walked, walked.  Great fun and great people there, too.

A week ago a group of 16 people from our church in Pella, Iowa, were returning from a week-long mission trip to Staten Island in New York, where we served in food pantries, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters, and learned about homelessness and HIV/Aids programs.

I will be ready for a chance to relax and collect my thoughts by the end of this week. I hope I will then have some good ideas for finalizing my novel.

And I fully intend to spend some time blogging on a regular basis.  I hope to be passing along some thoughts over the next few months.

Until then,
Peace.