Monday, 5 December 2011

Pretty Words

Pretty Words
By Elinor Wylie
Poets make pets of pretty, docile words:
I love smooth words, like gold-enamelled fish
Which circle slowly with a silken swish,
And tender ones, like downy-feathered birds:
Words shy and dappled, deep-eyed deer in herds,
Come to my hand, and playful if I wish,
Or purring softly at a silver dish,
Blue Persian kittens fed on cream and curds.
I love bright words, words up and singing early;
Words that are luminous in the dark, and sing;
Warm lazy words, white cattle under trees;
I love words opalescent, cool, and pearly,
Like midsummer moths, and honied words like bees,
Gilded and sticky, with a little sting.
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9 comments:

  1. gz5 December 2011 at 16:35

    (o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. soubriquet5 December 2011 at 17:15

    Honeyed.
    honeyed. surely??

    honied? pah! it grates.

    ReplyDelete
  3. red dirt girl5 December 2011 at 18:48

    Both are correct: honeyed and honied... at least here in America.

    I like words too, having made lists and lists of my favorite words. I don't make pets out of them. I taste them, roll them around in my mouth. Feel the hard consonants and soft vowels with my tongue.

    Sometimes I bite them. Always I swallow them, so they will swim in my veins, fill up my heart, inspire my brain.

    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Adullamite6 December 2011 at 02:02

    You like words?
    Who would have thought....

    ReplyDelete
  5. red dirt girl6 December 2011 at 22:17

    Adullamite - So, you just got around to noticing, eh?

    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  6. soubriquet7 December 2011 at 11:59

    Ahhhhh, RDG: I see it now.
    That's why you need all that toilet paper, after eating all your words, Reader's Digest!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. red dirt girl7 December 2011 at 17:06

    ARGGGGGGGGGH!
    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  8. soubriquet7 December 2011 at 18:07

    RDG: Chew more before swallowing, it sounds like those consonants might be giving you a bit of trouble.

    ReplyDelete
  9. red dirt girl8 December 2011 at 17:58

    No, not consonants. That was me experiencing extreme case of hoof in mouth disease...!

    xxx

    ReplyDelete


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