Thursday, January 30, 2014

What Vowel Did You Cry?

What Vowel Did You Cry When You Were Born? Words contain magic. In the beginning was the Word. Sounds create potent effects. People have always loved storytellers. Poetry is an ancient form of expression. Writing, when used with sounds in mind, is potent magic. Take the vowel sounds: a, e, i o, u. What vowel did you cry when you were born? I don’t know what vowel I cried, but I do know the cries of my two babies. The first born cried aaaaaaahh. The second cried eeeeeeee. A baby is born knowing every sound, but then only uses those sounds that he or she hears. We are born with sounds we hear from the womb. We know our mother’s voice and the voices of our father and our brothers and sisters. Vowels are the voice of Mother Earth. Consonants imitate things around us: the hiss of a snake; the splash of water, the hum of bees, the buzz of flies, the jingle of sleigh bells. Vowels and consonants together create a mood of sadness, or happiness, of mystery or majesty. The writer may deliberately use sounds to create these effects. Putting words on paper, stone, or the computer may cause the reader to act, to feel emotions, to believe. I love words. I love to play with words so that is why I love poetry. I love to roll the sounds around in my mouth, then arrange them and rearrange them on a page so they are pleasing to the ear and to the eye. Poetry should be spoken so the sounds are heard. So be careful how you use words. Choose them with your ears. --By Barbara Spring