The Story Behind Each Word....

[Richard Smith]

Heather,thanks for sharing Silko
I've been thinking alot about this too,
unscientifically of course!

words
thought, spoken, written, even silent
it seems we're shaped by words.
a simple breath of human exhaust
and we're comforted or infuriated

a particular throat vibration
and we're encouraged or undone.
symbols arrive from keyboard or pen
we transliterate them into words

emotion rise inside like steam
twisting themselves into thought.
we can sound them selectively
or we can blurt them carelessly

stories for each word
words for each story.
united by our stories
our people will thrive


Richard Zane Smith
Wyandotte, Oklahoma


On 5/10/08 11:46 AM, "Heather Souter" <hsouter at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> Taanshi,
> 
> I have been thinking about the use/meaning of "word" and  ran across
> this wonderful quote from Leslie Marmon Silko's work "Ceremony".  I
> cannot match the eloquence of the writer, so I will add no commentary.
>  (None is needed....)
> 
> "But you know, grandson, this world is fragile."
> The word he choose to express fragile was filled with the intricacies
> of a continuing process, and with a strength inherent in spider webs
> woven across paths through sand hills where early in the morning the
> sun becomes entangled in each filament of web.  It took a long time to
> explain the fragility and intricacy because no word exists alone, and
> the reason for choosing each word had to be explained with a story
> about why it must be said this certain way.  That was the
> responsibility that went with being human...,the story behind each
> word must be told so that there could be no mistake in the meaning of
> what had been said; and this demanded great patience and love.
> Ceremony, pp.35-36, Leslie Marmon Silko, 1977
> 
> Eekoshi pitamaa.
> Heather