Otherworlds

Courtesy: @noveliciouss (Twitter)

Behind the music,

Behind the words,

There is an open sesame

Leading into another world,

Access is encrypted in a strange dialect

Decoded only by heart, never the intellect.

Behind the music,

Every rhythm is a feel-in

Diction evident in each lilt

Behind the words,

There is a silence that lulls

Flitty nerves into creative storms.

Behind the walls of a soundtrack

There's nuff space to crawl in,

Fold your limbs and turn your back

To the noisome pestilence the day brings.

The music sets the tone,

The words create an organic envelope,

And all of a sudden, you find reason to hope.

There is a touch of magic

Behind the music,

Behind the words

That jaunts you to otherworlds

Than these.

Akpan

Verbal Venom

Words have a distinct taste

I found it's true cause I tasted of hate

Words spoken in rage filled haste 

Can make vengeful feud accelerate.

Akpan 

Cadence Bound

Lightning is faster than its sound

But when that comes its thunder

In words silence goes the round

Before sound wakes up suspended wonder

And make the reader shudder

How does a word absorb sound

Crack its shell to free cadence bound

It's magic that conjures sound

Sorcery that jaunts it thro doors,

Not seen nor foreseen by us,

Cut into the navel of the words

How does sound come into a word

How does rhythm leaven syllable

How does meaning evolve from thought

I am a captive in its vestibule

I’m an albatross

Convolved in a torrent of words.

Akpan

Grounds to 'Read With a Pencil Close By'

Here are a handful of grounds to “Read with a pencil close by.” I found out it is still one of the best advices ever given to writers or students of the printed text.

Mark Phrases/Sentences & Paragraphs

When a phrase or paragraph catches my eye and sparks up a desire for complemental musing, I mark it using a colored pen/pencil or highlighter. I feel much better having a textual landmark around it, knowing it will arouse zeal whenever I spot it.

A Sign of Commitment

I pick up a fiction/nonfiction text then grab for a colored pencil or highlighter and I feel a sense of commitment. The pen/pencil informs every nerve in my body that I mean business. I aint just doing this for fun, I intend to come off the reading project with a lesson and some learned.

Recall Entire Textual Matter

It’s a lot more easy to call up words from memory if you underline/mark them when you read. I do that often and when my mind coughs up those peculiar sentences they usually appear on the wall of my subconscious as images. I visualize the interesting set of words hemmed in by my scrawls before the title of the book essentially floats to the surface.

Spot Peculiar Phrases/Sentences/Paragraphs

I find I can navigate the text with ease when I circle or box words that chase my fancy. For me, it’s become less stressful identifying a line or box in the middle of a page, to find the sentence or phrase it guards. I can pick out these phrases during my research period. The lines and symbols seem to beg for my attention.

Lookout for Peculiar Twists

Having a highlighter close by where I can reach it and tag a phrase keeps my faculty amped up and on the lookout for expressions full of shades of meaning. The search for inspired language morphs into a conscious, energetic process and for somebody out to learn a new thing that’s a lot.

That’s all folks. I guess you know what you need for your next reading exercise besides the text, that is.

Keep your pen bleeding.

Akpan

Related articles

• The Colored Pencils
• Fact-based Fiction
• How to Edit and Polish Your Writing
• Back to the World of Paperbacks
• Sprout Pencils - give your writing some renewable energy, literally
• LEGO Pencil Cups