The Spoken Word

I don't think a night of my childhood went by without one of my parents reading to me. We started with "Goodnight Moon", "Peter Rabbit", "Blueberries for Sal" and then moved on to "Anne of Green Gables", "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" until I was able to read myself to sleep. Unfortunately, reading myself to sleep never had the same impact. The warmth of my father or mother's tones caressing, shocking or cajoling me into another world was, and still is, one of the greatest gifts they have given me.

What is it that makes the spoken word so powerful? Why do we need to hear our political, spiritual and social leaders speak to us? Why do we read poetry and speeches at weddings, funerals and special events, but rarely on a day to day basis?

There are many ways of answering these questions, but if Socrates is right and knowledge is gained by experience, why not experiment by reading something outloud today?

In case you need some inspiration, here is the link to a poetry blog. The poems are short and rich in their use of language. I suggest reading the poem several times until you begin to feel the weight and texture of the words. If you are feeling very brave, read it to someone else. Speaking text outloud not only warms up your voice, but gives you an opportunity to make choices about how you want to say something.

http://poem-of-the-week.blogspot.com/2008/01/hope-is-thing-with-feathers-by-emily.html