365 Ways With Words

The Final Straight

Only 16 more days to go! It feels like I am nearing the mainland, that there is the smell of land in the air and that I can drop a sail or two in the last few days before entering the sea-lanes and finally docking. Only, of course, I will not have quite written the full 365. I dropped three along the way for various reasons, some technical, and some personal.

So, I should really add another three at the end – which I may do – if I feel inclined – which at the moment I don't... I love writing, but I've had enough of this!

Perhaps 16+ days before the end is too soon to ruminate over a completed project, but this year of writing has taught me much – chiefly, that to take your art seriously is never a bad thing. If you have aspirations to artistry in any capacity, then time must be put in. Whilst it may take 10,000 hours to achieve fluency in the pursuit of any particular activity (less so if those hours are properly focused), one year in writing does not a writer make. Yes, to be a successful writer requires daily commitment, but daily output in a task like this varies with mood, energy, opportunity, imagination and desire. Some days I amazed myself, whilst others were really an intense drag. Some pieces I am still proud of, whilst others are undoubtedly best forgotten. Publishing daily made me examine grammar a little closer and although there are many split infinitives, passive voices and a host of other blots to my copy book, I stand by intention over mechanisation, fluidity over nicety, perception over technique. Someone recently mentioned to me that I should perhaps get a student to study the blog's development as an extant corpus. Whilst that is flattering, I doubt it is worth the salt.

On a personal note, daily creative writing made me at times look hard into the soul to see what was there. Some discoveries were real surprises, but on many other occasions I did not like what I had found. Such is found in us all: a little light and shade, goodness and badness, bravery and cowardliness, profundity and the profoundly dim.

My aim at the outset was to examine my ability to create in different genres, to give as many of them a go as I could. I included Sci-fi (much maligned in British minds), psychological examinations, ideas, comments, serials and more besides. I like writing poetry: there is an emotional immediacy to it. Hence, I have writted more than a few poems of which I am rightly proud.

Some work has been easily jotted down in an hour, whilst others have taken days (even weeks) to put together. Some work came easily, the ideas flowing from the fingertips, whilst others were pressed out with seconds to go before midnight. Sometimes alcohol helped, at other times was the inspiration, and at other times took power away. I endeavoured to put meaning – real solid meaning – into everything, but at times admittedly fell a little short. I suppose that had I given myself more time, then that would all have been rectified, but that's not the point of writing a post every day, nor is it possible. It is to my regret that pieces I would dearly have liked re-written and refined are half-finished. That may have put more than a few readers off. If it's any consolation, it did me, too!

I have not included any screenplays or theatre plays. They are difficult genres that are easily emulated, but which require much time, energy and dedication in order to get over the 'adolescent' stage of writing. I thought about a minimal token work something along the lines of Beckett, but decided the risks were too great.

The final straight is therefore in sight. It's about time to break out the rum. Thank you for reading my work. The (admittedly self-administered) demand to post every day has been a hard and unyielding mistress, but your Facebook likes and comments have several times made the difference between coming to an abrupt stop or continuing. Some pieces will make their edited and expanded way into a published work or two in the near future, something that might actually make me some money! If you have travelled this far, then please continue with my journey to the end. I have written for your eyes and dearly hope that I have brought you some pleasure along the way.

New Words

English being what it is, there are endless possibilities for the addition of new words. Apart from the acquisition of new words through the kind assistance of invaders of the British Isles, some of our finest words were coined by the likes of Chaucer, Shakespeare and a whole host of imaginative writers since gleefully unshackled by convention. If it is not merely to reside in dusty tomes on museum shelves, then English should be a malleable living thing that reflects the needs of the day.

New words, therefore, appear all the time and their continued usage is attested to by their usefulness. Here below are a selection of contemporary terms that are soon to be added to the Oxford English Dictionary (like these):

 

                                        Stringth – Beginner’s definition when building muscles

                                        Perplay – Any convoluted beginning of a game

                                        Dripple – Liquid that escapes between cup and mouth

                                        Trousellation – Creases in legwear

                                        Prolongual – A tendency to extend an activity, e.g long goodbyes

                                        Qurongue – The unfortunate propensity to join the wrong queue

                                        K’smank – A feeling of wretchedness that accompanies bad kisses

                                        Groloinal – Enlargement through stimulation – in a similar vein to genitals

                                        Horsh-Idlib – Unsubstantiated claims made about horse racing

                                        Xindy – A rush of air that exposes underwear

                                        Timmerrush – The thrill that accompanies social uncertainty, a perversion

Names and Misdemenours

We've met them. We try hard to be mature, but sometimes it's impossible. And although we wonder the route by which they named themselves, whether through self-christening or by random word generator, we are none-the-less amused by them. For just as the best stories are true, so also the reasons for some Chinese aliases must also be amazingly true. Why not ask? Besides, said in the right way, 'Winky Wu' is a very nice name.

It can only be guessed when the Chinese of Hong Kong began to chose an English or English-sounding alias, but it may safe to assume it began not long after the British colony was first established. That Chinese names are all-but absent from the 19th century records of internments at the Happy Valley cemetery on Hong Kong island testifies to racist exclusion even in death of those without western names, but may also reflect the fact that Chinese burial rites elsewhere were naturally just as exclusive. There are long and complicated traditions associated with Chinese names, but the lack of evidence my reflect the fact that aliases may have been seen as incidental and dropped from official Chinese or English documentation.

Whatever the reasons, Hong Kong Chinese are inheritors of a tradition that has somehow stuck. Some are given names by their parents, others voluntarily choose, whereas others will be asked to adopt a non-Chinese name fairly early in their school career and stick with it. Thus, some names, such as Cherry and Bonnie, obviously suit sweet babies, but Winnie, Annie and Ryan may also sound similar to Chinese names. And perhaps we'd better not dwell long on a Kinky or a Fanny.

Then there are the self-selectors. It begins with school, no doubt, but ends in all sorts of bizarre adoptions that must have come from desperation, creative deviousness or mere indolence. Thus, Puzzle Yiu will work at 7/11, Bunny Ho might serve you KFC, whilst next door at the bank will be Fonda Chiu. Titan Bang may be your best bet for fixing your air conditioning and at the pub your Tsingtao may be poured by Satan Tang. This is all very well, but some even more bizarre aliases crop up from time to time. 'Precious' may not be too bad, and even 'Barbie' might fail to raise a smile, but how about 'Suddenly', 'Fruit', 'Anvil' 'Potato', and 'Vodka'? Then there are the Old Testament prophets, such as Amos and Moses, brand loyalty such as Zara, Bentley and Rolex, places like Yukon, France and York, and more abstract concepts such as 'Lucky', 'Healthy' and 'Hearty'. Other names are modified from existing names, such as Gorden (Gordon) and Lona (Lorna), and then there's all the Hymens, Willys and Tootsies...

However amusing these names seem, they are used to substitute for the more formal Chinese names that, according to Joyce Man, are only given at formal introductions. So they are not mere distractions, but serve a very useful purpose. And, should some awkward pale-faced Gwailo point out that these are not 'proper names' (whatever that may be), the reply is always that it is their name – an individual nomenclature that gives a unique identity. And surely that's the whole point. You're not going to forget a Winky Wu, Dicky Chiu or Rambo Man in a hurry.

Please feel free to add any weird name delights you've come across in the comments section.

Present Perfect Tension

1. A: Did you like the movie "Superman: Man of Steel?"

    B: I (never, see) ____________ that movie. I (never, see) ____________ movies on my own.

2. Last month Harry finally (have, arrive) ____________ back in London from his holiday.

3. He’s my best friend. We (have, know) ____________ each other for years. We get together every week.

4. We both (meet) ____________ Julietta one night. She is a fantastic barwoman. She (have, mix) ____________ all the best-loved cocktails, which we drank. One day, she'll own her own bar.

5. We (have, not) ____________ had this much fun since Harry first (come) ____________ to town.

6. Looking back, things like this (have, affect) ____________ things between us a great deal.

7. When another person (have, breeze) ____________ into a relationship, the dynamics (be, alter) ____________. When we first (start) ____________ seeing her, our friendship (comprise) ____________ only two people, but then, we (expand) ____________ to include three.

8. We (be, have) ____________  a great time together.

9. I (have, tell) ____________ him not to fall in love, but he (have, wander) ____________ off into la-la land and (be) ____________ head-over-heels.

10. “Listen Julietta,” I (say) ____________, “you (have not, be) ____________ a good friend for too long, so you should be careful with Harry’s heart!”

9. Julietta is young and from Barcelona, which is party central, so she (have) ____________ only (experience) ____________ good times. Could it be that she (have) ____________ little understanding of relationships?

10. Harry (dream) ____________ of going to Barcelona for the winter with Julietta, but she suddenly (cool) ____________ it off.

11. He (have, cancel) ____________ his flights. He (be) ____________ angry. He (claim) ____________ that she (have, be, see)____________ someone else.

12. What Harry, does not know was that I am also (see) ____________ Julietta. I (have, fell) ____________ in love with her pretty early on. She (make) ____________ me feel alive!

13. When he (find) ____________ out the truth, he (be) ____________ so angry.

14. He (say) ____________ he can (be, never) ____________ my friend again. From then on, he (say) ____________ he (hate) ____________ Julietta and me.

15. Julietta quickly (go) ____________ back to Barcelona alone, and later I (travel) ____________ there to meet her. When I (get) ____________ there, she already (has) ____________ a boyfriend. I (feel) ____________ like a complete dick!

16. I (return) ____________ to London. I (spend) ____________ two weeks calling Harry, but he (have, not, respond) ____________. I (lose) ____________ my friend forever.

17. A: Did you like the movie "X-Men: Days of Future Past?"

      B: I (never, see) ____________ that movie. I (never, see) ____________ movies on my own.

Czechwords

It is possible that English, that absurd, thrill-seeking, piratical devourer of words found in other languages, has more loan words than any other. It's a matter of welcome aboard! when they're picked up, man-handled, reduced, enlarged, twisted and thoroughly used and abused until fashion moves on. Rarely are they tossed overboard: if unused, they will be found deep in a hold somewhere, swilling bilge-water. Some words, however, will never get on board, no matter how hard they try, as in this video:

 

James Nicoll, writer and commentator on such things, once wise-cracked:

The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and riffle their pockets for new vocabulary.

Czech is no stranger to the marauding Anglický: they came, they saw and then nicked. Therefore, for your amusement, below is a list of the strange 'borrowing' –read thievery– from this west slavic language, shamelessly lifted from Wikipedia (with additions). Some I've not heard of, such as cesky fousek and sokol, but that's no surprise because I dropped my subscriptions to Facial Hair Monthly and Fresh Faced Youth Weekly.

• Absurdistan (in Czech Absurdistán) – word created by Eastern Bloc dissidents, passed into English mainly through works of Václav Havel.
• Budweiser – after Budweis, the German name of Budějovice Budějovice, a city in Southern Bohemia.
• Cesky Fousek – from Český fousek (Czech fousek); word fousek is connected with the beard and moustache (lit. facial furnishings). A Czech breed of hairy doggy.

• Dollar – from Tolar (German: Thaler), the Czech name for the 16th century Bohemian silver coin mined in Údolí svatého jáchyma.
• Haček – a diacritic, literally 'little hook', e.g. 'č' is roughly pronounced 'ch'. Also known as "caron".
• Howitzer – from houfnice, a 15th-century Hussite catapult; houf meaning crowd or band
• Kolache – from koláč or koláček. A popular pastry number.

• Koczwarism – Sexual asphyxiophila in medical slang; after František Kočvara, the celebrated Czech composer who, by the semi-auto-erotic manner of his death, became the first recorded death by such.
• Moldavite – from Moldau; Moldau is German version of pretty green crystals.

• Pils, Pilsner, Pilsener – after Pilsen, the German name of Plzeň, a Czech city. The name of the city is derived from Old Czech plz (damp, moist).
• Pistol – from píšťala, a 15th-century Hussite firearm (however, alternative sources have been suggested).
• Polka – from Polák or polský, a Czech dance named in remembrance of the November Uprising of 1830; or from Půlka, in English half because of its tempo.
• Prazsky krysarik – form Pražský krysařík. A little doggy, sometimes called a Prague Ratter.

• Robot – from Czech robota (labour, drudgery), introduced in 1920 in Karel Čapek's play R.U.R.
• Semtex – a plastic explosive named after Semtín, part of the city of Pardubice, where it is manufacturered.
• Sokol – physical education movement (originally from the Czech word sokol, meaning "falcon") carried out by fresh-faced youths.

• Tunnelling – a colloquial term for financial fraud committed by a company's own management or major shareholders. Widely used in the Czech Republic (and Slovakia) since the first half of 1990s to describe the massive asset stripping during transition from planned to free economy.

"Enjoy", "LOL" and "Amazing!"

I'd like to think of myself as a generous soul – perhaps, even, to a fault: many-a poor toe has been painfully trodden on, to be met with a rejoin no worse than an apology – of my own (why do we do that?). I once had a hockey stick dropped through my Toyota's rear view window. Expecting a angry tirade, the teacher who drew my attention to the misdemeanour was astonished that I merely shrugged and walked away. I recall saying that getting angry wouldn't accomplish anything: the kids knew that what they had done was wrong and their parents would pay-up. Most things, after all, just aren't worth the puff!

I have a low threshold, however, when it comes to things writteded bad in the Englishe tongue. It's not so much spelling and grammar, although that does occasionally generate heat under the collar. I care little for aluminums and aluminiums, color and colours, and I apologise when I recognize an organised traveler fuelled with oestrogen on defence manouvers, but I would always demand continuity. If you can read it, then you can understand it. And if you really want to know, then check Shakespeare about bloody spelling!

No, my gripe is with superfluous online English, particularly with regard to Facebook. It's the unnecessariness of it all. Let's begin with the wank word, 'Enjoy'. Why, oh why, would anyone write it? The word is a verb, as in I share in your anticipation and really hope you do something you will enjoy, but not a command: ENJOY EXTERMINATING THE DOCTOR!

Would someone wonder about the enjoyment of a particular occasion if 'Enjoy' was not added to a post?

ME: Going to Thailand tomorrow

IDIOT: Enjoy

ME: Wow! Just as well you wrote that – I was prepared for 2 weeks of misery, but now I've changed my mind

The next is 'LOL' – Laugh Out Loud. Does this EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER need to be written? 'Ha-ha' is very nearly as bad, but LOL is right up there with the wankiest of wank words that has no possible relevance to anything anyone has said or written ever. Would you say it?

THE QUEEN: Arise, Sir Richard of Olomouc

ME: LOL

If the Facebook post was amusing, then perhaps a private chortle would suffice. If it is hilarious, then perhaps a suitable word could be used to express approval like, oh I don't know, Hilarious! If it is downright side-splitting, then by all means share, but on no account should those trodden dog turd three letters be left as a useless, nauseating comment.

The last, 'Amazing!', I am afraid to admit, I have used. I share in the sadness of this very non-descriptive description. Some things, after all, are amazing, but the word on its own is sadly bereft of narrative or detailed usefulness. It is put in as one of the three FB sins only because of it's regularity. Even now I cringe at having been amazed – after all, who really cares if I am amazed?

Well, that's about it. Please think before posting about eating cake, having an ice cream, that the weather is cold/hot/wet/dry or that you've been to the gym or ridden on a train. I know, I know – I'm as guilty as anyone of the travel excitement thing, but I do try to make it interesting. And I post pictures that are Amazing! So, Enjoy! LOL

In the Fart Zone (A-F)

Ack-Ack: explosives delivered from below that are extremely dangerous to those flying within the vicinity. “Try to keep on course, Carstairs, looks like we’re heading for a spot of ack-ack.”

Bum Burner: the warming precursor, and after-effect, of curry slurry. “After that ruby last night, my innards, Lady Marchbank, are fit for a bum burner.”

Cushion Creeper: stealthy silent leakage of trouser gas. “Blushing bright red, and without letting on, the archbishop’s effort to hold the crown aloft forced out a cushion creeper.”

Dragon’s Fire: burns the (k)night away. Double effect of the bum burner (see above). “Sir Gallahad limped out of the cave, his armour all the worst from the effects of a touch of dragon’s fire.”

Elephant’s Footsteps: large vacuous thumpings – accompanies walking motions. “Bejasus, Paddy, what was that? Sure I heard the owd elephant footsteps a-followin’ us!”

Fidgeter: lingering indoor escapee that accompanies ‘bums-on-floor’ classroom activities, such as PE, story time, music and movement. “Miss Smith was not amused: almost as soon as class had begun Sally, Jim and Peter promptly produced a salvo of noisy fidgeters.

Arse/Ass

Oscar Wilde, that fount of profound witticisms and of the scathing rebuke, held that the British have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language. His acerbic commentary on linguistic differences was correct, but, perhaps, one should not delve into such territory for fear of argument escalating to nonsensical spelling and grammatical feuds – a narrow path beside a precipice more sheer than any paltry fiscal cliff.

I am not sure exactly what Wilde would have made of the word 'arse', but I think it is fair to say he would have had a good opinion of its use, one way or another. Having just spent the morning in English conversation lessons discussing the terms 'arse' and 'ass' (don't ask why – things just went that way), I think it only fair to share the fruits of such probing.

'Arse': a vulgar English term for bottom, rear, buttocks, rump, etc. Actually, this is is not merely English, but also a widely-used British and Irish term heard anywhere across the land from John o'Groats to Lands Derrière. It extends even further to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and is therefore, to borrow a French term, un grand universaliser. British people from all walks of life know how to identify their arses from their elbows, feel unhappy about living in the arse end of the country like _______ (insert name of town), and know the horror of waking up next to someone with a face like a slapped one. 'Arse', in this context, is a fairly straightforward word for all things bum-like. It is not the same as 'arsehole', which is fairly well understood to be the fundament within which one's opinions should be speedily inserted should they prove to be contrary to expected opinion. And actually doing such a thing, quite literally, at a christening party, say, or in the presence of visiting royal dignitary, would magically transform the individual into the very object being described.

But the British, arguably the greatest inventors of the world, turned their linguistic acuity towards the simple arse and decided it should also have another more pejorative use – that of an insult: "You, Lady Beaufort, are a complete arse!" It describes ill-advised actions whereby one arses around, or the act of obduracy or sassiness when one is arsey, is an expression of indolence when one simply cannot be arsed to perform a menial task and may simply be used for honest cussing pleasure – Arse! For some reason it is also often been confused with Arsenal Football Club. To be referred to as a complete arse means that one has become a foolish, bumbling, fumbling fool, the kind that would confuse the word 'arse' with 'ass'. And so on to the next word...

'Ass': a common-or-garden reference to a jackass, donkey or domesticated member of the Equidae family. An ejaculate standard across the pond, ass is a allusion to perceived stubborn stupidity on the part of the recipient of such restrained terminology. Asses are also associated with the Democrat Party, an insulting reference from the times of Andrew Jackson.

'Ass' also means 'arse', in that it refers to the posterior. The genius of it: if one so desires one can admire an ass, shake an ass and even hit on an ass without involving the SPCA or the American Donkey and Mule Sanctuary. But Americans have extended the use to include... well... pretty much all of a person. So, should the need arise, asses can be moved, whipped and even broken, all without the removal of trousers.

 

To conclude, those of the Western Hemispheric regions might not exactly understand the nuanced arse in quite the same way as British appreciate arseness and all its assets, but at least they don't have Father Jack.

 

An Exercise

Here's a game you can play, either by yourself or with like-minded friends. You need only an open mind. It has two variants, short and long, and can be applied to almost any endeavour to which you aspire. The beauty of this game is that the more you play, the better you should get at playing it. The benefit of this game is that the more seriously you take it the more you should improve in whatever it is you are doing.

Variant A, 10:1 – for 10 seconds the player is to focus on an idea, an image, a tune, a speech, etc. It could be the first thing that pops into the head, or something already prepared. Then for 1 minute the player is to relate, draw, sing, play, talk or do whatever they have decided to do.

The important thing is that after the 10 seconds prep there should be no hesitation for the rest of that minute. This is difficult at first, particularly if the player is shy or has little faith in their abilities. When they inevitably break down into stuttering, repetition or embarrassing shoe-staring they are to be congratulated on what they have done and given encouraging and helpful suggestions for improvement: faltering can be overcome with dedication and more practice. It is really an exercise in creativity.

Variant B, 30:5 – this is simply an extension of the former, but because the time is longer the valuable 30 seconds thinking time must go beyond the initial idea onto considerations about how to extend it for the full five minutes. This might be easier with something like drawing or speaking, activities that usually take as long as needed to conclude, yet therein lies the discipline – the topic/subject must be suitably concluded within that time, no more and no less.

Although this format is usually applied to things like slam poetry or rap lyrics, within the Toastmasters group this is an established discipline held at each meeting, but with a slight difference: each speaker is given 30 seconds and is supposed to speak for one- to two-minutes. It sounds a doddle, but the half-minute prep flies past like five seconds and the two minutes speech can seem an eternity. God knows I've stood up thinking I can easily put a speech together only to find all the ideas gone and a barely-coherent ramble ensue, yet on other occasions can put together an epic speech from nothing!

These games have an interesting heritage, particularly in the art world. Famously, the sculptor Henry Moore found the huddled figures hiding in the London Underground during the Blitz of 1940-41 of momentous emotional import. He would rapidly sketch the sleeping and sheltering figures, a necessity because he did not want to intrude on the privacy of the sleeping civilians. His quick sketches were to support imprints on his visual memory to create "volumes without the need to use shadows". Capturing the essence of figures without the artifice of setting them up in poses, he would later use the sketches to complete more dramatic and thoughtful compositions.

Below is a short on Henry Moore. The importance of the underground drawings is highlighted from about 1:50

 

This exercise is also a good game to try at the pub where each player will already be in a relaxed frame of mind. Give it a go with sketching, improvising, speech-making or anything else you might consider fun – stick at it and you will improve!

My Deepening Love for Wisława Szymborska

When entering a new country/region/town, it is imperative to get acquainted with four things: beer, supermarkets, galleries and poetry. These four things will allow the visitor the best and most honest exposure of the people within which he or she walks without any well-meaning falsities offered by a guide.

Beer is obvious – it is the stuff of life which enables the people to strip away the social contrivances and accurately communicate one-to-one. Well, it does somewhere between the first and fourth. After that, who knows where you might be or what you might be doing, but at least you should all be friendly. The British drink and get a little testy, Americans get even louder, the Czechs get all lovey-dovey, and the Russians – well, probably best not to discuss a country where alcoholism is the national sport.

Supermarkets allow the observer to see what is popularly consumed and get a flavour of local taste buds and eating norms. In Hong Kong supermarkets may have live frogs hopping about in a cage waiting to be dispatched and minced, in the United States the aisles are wide enough for two trucks to pass each other, and in Poland and the Czech Republic there is always a jostling huddle of old ladies around the meat section buying up sausagey things and fatty speck – lardo in Italian.

Art galleries allow the visitor to witness something of the way in which the host population views itself at large. Better still, galleries often enable retrospective views that will allow for comparisons. It's often the case that towns looked nicer in the years before the First World War, when pleasantries permitted embellishments to town houses and doilies around cakes. Later changes to society may be reflected in the perspectives of more modern artists who pecked away at the soul in portraiture, used images to replace landscapes, and analysed introspection through abstraction (like the one above).

The fourth thing to get acquainted with is the local poetry – the cherished words the people use to discuss themselves. It might be that you're not into poetry – that's fine, but you don't know what you're missing. We all watch TV and go to the movies and theatre because we enjoy good stories. Many of the enacted stories come from books whose writers may also have penned poems; you know, stuff that's much shorter and more flowery than a novel, but usually describes something you can identify with. Of course, it used to be that poetry, like art, had to follow a certain respectable form acceptable only in polite (and particularly French) society. Now, poetry can be about anything, in any form, by anyone and sometimes may even touch everyone.

Such are the poems of Wisława Szymborska, the ever-smiling Krakow poet who died last year. Her ability to communicate was legendary and her soft approach regarding matters of great importance won her admiring fans from all over the world. It also meant she was awarded a Nobel Laureate. A genuine person to the last, she shunned the limelight and loved socialising with her close friends and when abroad for readings would first seek out kitcshy tourist tat to give to them at dinner parties.

In her Krakow apartment she kept newspaper cuttings, collages and things given to her –even her golden Nobel award– in thousands of drawers. Some of these assemblies were on show at the Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowi and it is here that I first became acquainted with her poetry.

She was a wonderful, inquisitive, humerous and slightly irreverant person, each time I read her work she and I get a little closer. She wrote about her thoughts directly but with such subtlety that you easily fall into her visions, hear her words and see her meanings without getting all intellectual about it. I enclose a favourite shorty of mine below:

The Three Oddest Words

    When I pronounce the word Future,
    the first syllable already belongs to the past.

    When I pronounce the word Silence,
    I destroy it.

    When I pronounce the word Nothing,
    I make something no non-being can hold.