Sunday, December 4, 2011
Pulchritudinous
Saturday, November 26, 2011
nebbish
/ 'nebiSH/
resplendent
/ri'splendent/
bereft
- Deprived or lacking of something, esp a nonmaterial asset
- (of a person) Lonely and abandoned, esp through someone's death or departure
When one receives news that a 13 year old boy has died, a sort of overwhelmingly silent loudness fills the air. Much like lifting a seashell to an ear, the whoosh of air plays tricks on your mind. You do not really hear the ocean. Just as you do not really hear the voices telling you such terrible things. You are empty. Bereft. And even words hold weight when everything else falls away.
Where had I heard this wind before
Change like this to a deeper roar?
What would it take my standing there for,
Holding open a restive door,
Looking down hill to a frothy shore?
Summer was past and the day was past
Somber clouds in the west were massed.
Out on the porch's sagging floor,
Leaves got up in a coil and hissed,
Blindly striking at my knee and missed
Something sinister in the tone
Told me my secret must be known:
Word I was in the house alone
Somehow must have gotten abroad,
Word I was in my life alone,
Word I had no one left but God.
Bereft - Robert Frost
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
"I like good strong words that mean something." Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
There were no silly little anagrams. No one dreamed of using a smiley face to convey pleasure. The only hashtags were found in opium dens. Emotions were not condensed like soup to arbitrary text limits. Emotions were conveyed in words. Words were collected like precious gems; the more you had, the higher your esteem.
It seems, somewhere along the way, we have forgotten the value in a word. I may blog so that words are not lost. This is my challenge. This is my vow.
Truman Capote once said, "To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the music the words make." Shall we make music together?