Hi Gary & Ryfkah,

Your sentiments of wanting to keep and use such words fit into what Dorothy
Nimmo says (“I would like to apply for a licence for...) but then she
continues: “It might be kinder to let them go quietly.” Then there’s the
last stanza which is (to me) the most heartbreaking (but also
black-humoured) lament!

I just recognise that (some) words get old and weary, and then die. I mean
the goode-olde-worlde words like “glade” and “rill” (and how many others?)
probably stand more chance of lingering in poetry after they've left the
rest of language (but they're frail, possibly in old-folks homes and
suffering from dementia, none the less). Dictionaries as coffins? Maybe...

I recognise, however, that new words are being invented all the time (and
not all of the new ones are (or remain) nouns, naming new discoveries and
things). I guess if I reach a time when I long for words that have expired
and don’t get excited by words that are fresh and powerfully loud and new
then I’ve reached a moment when I’ve not lost a few words but lost something
greater, the delightful skill that’s in the drive of creativity which is
inbuilt in language itself. So, one site I love is visiting is
http://www.quinion.com/words/turnsofphrase/index.htm and (guessing and)
revelling.

Bob



>From: Ryfkah * <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: New Sub: Ave Maria (Bob)
>Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 19:43:29 EST
>
>Thank you Bob; I certainly think about words deeply but find it amusing to
>have some anathema and some not.  It makes me want to use all the forbidden
>words in a poem.  Soul is not to be used here in the USA but sometimes,
>especially from a kabbalist like myself, soul is exactly what is needed.
>
>kol tuv, Ryfkah
>In a message dated 11/24/01 8:57:03 AM, [log in to unmask]
>writes:
>
><< Hi Ryfkah
>(and anyone else interested in the word “shard”...)
>
>Over the last decade in the UK (and where else in the world?) poets in the
>know have often smirked when words like “shard,” “gossamer,”
>“patina,”
>“lambent,” and “filigree” have been used in poems. Like it or not
>that’s how
>it’s been for more than a decade - and still is.
>
>I’m a coward because after I once used one of the words, and I was
>criticised (and heard the rest of the list of “no-no words), I never used
>any ever again. But I don’t think I lost anything (by changing the word),
>and probably gained quite a lot, in a lot of subsequent poems, by changing
>the focus of my descriptive language.
>
>If anyone’s interested there’s a great poem called LAST WORDS, written
>by
>Dorothy Nimmo, I think the web address is
>http://www.bath.ac.uk/~exxdgdc/poetry/poets/nimmo12.html
>and the poem’s there...
>
>But all I did was use Google and type in Dorothy Nimmo (and it was the
>first
>site that came up!). Dorothy was a fine poet (and a fine person). Look the
>poem up - it's fun!
>
>Bob
>  >>


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