Having my way with Words

There is this need to put into words just how deeply I am affected by exemplary, stellar writing. I am awestruck by the author who possesses the talent to deftly and thoroughly insert a reader into the story.

My nature is to quickly devour that which I enjoy. Ah, but I refer to food and drink. Not to my beloved words! 

Words and the arrangement of words I savor and save, roll them across my mind, "see" their form and beauty, marvel at their ability, when skillfully strung together, to move me to tears and to anger; to provide comfort and solace; to educate and enlighten me. 

I often stop dead in the middle of a paragraph, in the midst of a sentence, stare away from the page and dwell on the adroit parsing of language, the beauty in the use of, the way with, words. I want to continue with the story, but several minutes pass before I drift back to the page.  

This experience can occur no matter what genre I'm reading. Poetry often has this effect. However, I read poetry knowing there will be intensity and deep, deft expression of feelings and ideas. Even before opening the book I am emotionally ready for the reactions that emerge.

A voice which is now silent but which will live on forever is that of Brian Doyle. His books, essays and poetry are the epitome of rich, detailed, shining writing.  

An excerpt from Doyle's The Wet Engine - Exploring the Mad Wild Miracle of the Heart:

What " ... might we be if we rise and evolve, if we reach and leap, if we deepen and sing, if we come further down from the brooding trees and out onto the smiling plain, if we unclench the fist and drop the dagger, if we emerge blinking from the fort and the stockade and the prison, if we smash the bricks from around our hearts, if we cease to stagger and swagger, if we peel the steel from our eyes, if we yearn and learn, if we do what we say we will do, if we act as if our words really matter, if our words become muscled mercy ... and become as if new creatures arisen from our shucked skins ... become what we are so patently and brilliantly and utterly and wholly and holy capable of … 

What then?"

I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. 

Sometimes I write one, and I look at it until it begins to shine. 

~Emily Dickinson