He is standing, quite still. It's not a river, really, just a muddy trickle, a silted creek that's probably more sewage than alluvium. The bridge is just a few feet above the water. It shall submerge if the rains are good this year, and then we will have to cross by boat.
The air is buzzing with insects. No, wait, they aren't insects at all. They are words, each in a different colour, each with a matching pair of wings. The ins and the withs dart merrily about, maneuver expertly around the ponderous bulk of 'maneuver', bump into 'merrily' without noticeable damage, and continue along their way, heading towards the source of the water, perhaps unaware that it is many miles away. 'It' and 'is', meanwhile, race each other, thrilled by their own velocity. 'Maneuver' and the equally ungainly 'ponderous' move slowly but noisily, like articulate bumblebees. 'Ungainly', despite his name, is a most nimble fellow, and navigates slickly through the aerial crowd, the tail of the 'y' acting as rudder.
He must capture these words, and string them together, and make them behave, but they seem to delight in eluding him; they remain just out of reach, the bulkier ones maintaining their height, the quicker ones (notably 'it' and 'is') occasionally taunting him by flying within reach, then flitting away. But capture them he must, even if it takes a lifetime of patience, for that is his destiny.
19 comments :
Haunted by the ghosts of missed lessons? :)
http://cachacamonopoly.blogspot.com/2007/12/glossologia.html
~N.
At last! And such a whimsical post! I could almost picture the words! A word-picture about words themselves! For me 'ponderous' was an elephant, the line of the P becoming the trunk!
BTW, a short story of mine has appeared in the May issue of Good Housekeeping (Indian edition of course)Do you get it there by any chance?
N: No, it's not possible to miss lessons! We do e-learning now, you know :)
LAK: Congratulations! One shall make Discreet Inquiries about this publication. (They shall have to be Discreet, because if word gets out that the supposedly single One is suddenly interested in Good Housekeeping, we shall never hear the end of it.)
Hmm! Point. But maybe it is single Ones who need such mags more? Ha ha!
Ah, then i hope that that's a poem forming. :)
And good Housekeeping? Umm-hmmmmmm. :D
~N.
LAK's word-pictures are infectious. Now i can picture One as the D of Discreet, all hunched up trying to shrink into a cloak of anonymity while browsing through a magazine rack looking for Good Housekeeping, hoping like crazy that no one would recognise him. :P
~N.
You really should write more often. Destiny, like you said.
That made a lot of sense. :)
Yippee, I am not the only one who thinks words have personalities.
LAK: True, as a glance around the long-suffering Abode confirms.
N: Ah, pomes. Let us make spirited attempts.
Devika: Yes. Spirited attempts are the order of the day.
Deepu: Evidently not :)
Ha ha N,the D of discreet, really good! As for you, oh the One, please post more often, we need our regular dose of whimsy!
LAK: :)
One: Mm, we await the results of your spirited attempts.
~N.
Oh, nice.
C'mon da, blog a little more... little more. once a month, yes?
'Ungainly', in my head, was always ungainly, just like its cousins (siblings?) - unwonted, unblemished, unspeakable and all the rest. I thought the U in the beginning would wobble in motion. But then I now see your point about the Y making the whole unit nimble. May I ask what came first, the title, or the post? :)
One nudge to nudge One.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0
[Maybe this will inspire some creativity. :) ]
~N.
*This* you just had to see!
http://www.gocomics.com/cathy/2009/08/19
:D
~N.
Und auch das:
http://www.gocomics.com/cathy/2009/08/21
LAK/N: Wish/command. Well .. couldn't pome, but prosed instead. Micro-prosed.
N: Thanks for the link. Great minds etc, what.
Anon: Once again, great minds etc. Danker scone. (To which you reply "bitter scone".)
Sheetal: Yes. That be the Aim henceforth.
Padma: Yes, the Y. Prehensile is the word, and a nice gripping sort of word it is. Onethinks the post came first, but then this was months ago and the memory ain't what it used to be ..
N: Apollo G. Completely forgot to thank you for the wedding-dance video; 'twas most enjoyable. And it has apparently spawned a divorce parody :)
Oops, the anon was moi too. Forgot to sign.
Yes, saw the divorce parody too. But the original was just too cute. :)
~N.
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