National Poetry Month: 9/30: “The Sound of a Word Unheard”

 

Paul B. J

Paul B. Janeczko’s poem, “Mary Todd Lincoln Speaks of Her Son’s Death, 1862,” appears within the Writers Play with Language section of Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s Poems Are Teachers: How Studying Poetry Strengthens Writing in All Genres.

Janeczko’s poem is a model piece demonstrating how poets Repeat for Effect.

In this piece each stanza expounds upon the word, “gone,” as having multitude of meanings and effects upon the listener.

James Castle would not have words to which he could or would need to attend. Even the word, “deaf” would have been lost to him without a hearing experience anywhere in his early life.

Janeczko introduces the poem before the first repetition of the word gone which forecasts the following four stanzas. In order to follow the model, I would have had to have chosen a word that would be familiar to James. And this wouldn’t be possible for James, so I picked a work with which the world is most familiar in reference to James: “Outsider.”

 

“The Sound of a Word Spoken but Unheard”

 

When they first noticed

that James didn’t respond

their loud calls to chores

his family thought him

too lazy to tend the farm;

they called him “outsider.”

 

Outsider.

The word was a place

to stay each day away

to do his work within

wooden walls of silence.

 

Outsider.

The word means Our stories

are not yours–unless you gain

something from attempting to speak,

a shriek your only chance to share.

 

Outsider.

The word means a special school

another institution of isolation

where they sometimes make you sit

on your working hands until you talk.

 

Outsider.

A word that means a special community

recognizes you now ages after

the body of your work

has joined with others’

and you are no longer

alone. . .you are

an artist.

One thought on “National Poetry Month: 9/30: “The Sound of a Word Unheard”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *