Hostage taking By Lindsay Lewis Enclosed in the pale envelope of sleep the words invade, with tiny timbers in their hand, battering my brain Any poet knows, you cannot bargain with a word. They must have their say, adamant on winning. Words are worthless...
Read MoreHow does one craft a poem? Students are baffled by poetry, for it breaks all the conventions. I often refer to poems as orange concentrate. Take out all of the water, and just keep the oranges, full and bursting with flavour. Take out small words- prepositions and articles, and let the nouns and verbs sing. This is the first poem I wrote when I was seventeen, and it was published in Grain...
Read MoreIn addition to teaching, I’m now narrating children’s audio books. It’s extremely fun and interesting work, as I’m doing cold reading, meaning I have no idea what the story is about, or what events will happen. Today’s stories included a child being picked up by a giant in a forest, and taken to his house. The giant was cooking other children ( horror!) I tried not...
Read MoreI’m studying Italian and che bella language. I was reading the history of the Medici family, and noticed the word Parliamento. When I think of the word Parliament, I of course imagine the Parliament buildings, but in fact, the original Parliament was obviously related to the root PARLE – to speak. In fact, the signores would gather in Florence to discuss matters of political...
Read MoreI’m currently reading Jhumpha Lahiri’s book In Other Words which is in fact her journey into learning another language- in this case Italian. The book resonates with me because I also feel so thrilled when I feel the word in my bones, feel it bouncing off my tongue, and feel understood by a native speaker. I taught myself a decent amount of Greek, and would thrill at the sounds...
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