|
|
Article: Words that express our realities deserve to be praised, preserved. (variants in language)(Column)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- June 28, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Language. Mother tongue. Without an event that jars our sense of its place in our lives, we tend to take the expressive mode for granted. It comes along with our earliest need gratifications or lacks thereof, and, absent an impediment, becomes an almost automatic tool we will nevertheless spend a lifetime honing.
As a poet, I am particularly concerned with language. I listen carefully, sift intentionally, working always for the most precise or filtered expressions, bare bones that evoke and place the reader/listener upon a territory of vibrant possibilities. Immediacy of recognition. Or its antithesis: completely unexplored terrain.
As someone who has lived ...