Indelible by Jayne Cortez Listen i have a complaint to make my lips are covered with thumb prints insomnia sips me the volume of isolation is up to my thyroid and i won't disappear can you help me
I came across Jayne Cortez’ poem yesterday and it halted me. I paused after each phrase of words and swung them open – wide open. And read them again. And again – leaning in to them.
Feeling them each line.
The word “indelible” intrigued me and I needed a definition. I went to Webster.
- a. That which can not be removed, washed away or erased; b. making marks that can not be removed.
- a. Lasting; b. unforgettable; memorable.
Words can be indelible I thought.
I don’t recall the precise moment I realized how much I treasure words. . . how they sound, their rhythm, the deep underlying essence and complexities of a single word. I’m fascinated in how we name things and then shape our lives around that idea of what the name stands for. We attempt to gain a deeper understanding of each other and the human experience, but all we have is language to describe it.
Which is why we must be so careful in the words we choose to use – with others and with ourselves.
Not everyone feels this way about words. We’ve all experienced words being thrown around willy-nilly without any thought about where they might land or how they may shape a human’s being.
It’s not anyone’s fault. We only have the words we have been given.
For those of us that savor words and hang on their every facet, I think we might feel there’s something more going on.
Sharon Anne Klinger writes,
Every word carries an energy that can be sensed, regardless of whether you're thinking about it, speaking it, hearing it or reading it on the page. A lot of elements impact a word's energy.
Each individual word gives off a vibrational energy, high or low. Some people are more sensitive to the energies around them. It only makes sense then that words might effect some human beings more profoundly than perhaps those that than can go about their days flinging words around aimlessly.
I wonder if there’s a word for that?
I am participating in the 15th Annual SOL 2022 March challenge. For 31 days, I will attempt to write and share a small slice of life from my days. If you’d like to read more of today’s slices from other teacher-writers, please head over to twowritingteachers, who have also committed to this challenge.