The sounds of language...

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"Sometimes 

I've spent weeks looking for 

precisely the right word.  

It's like having 

a tiny marble in your pocket; 

you can feel it.  

Sometimes 

you find a word and say, 

"No, I don't think this is precisely it…." 

Then you discard it, 

and take another and another 

until you get it right.  

What I'd like to stress 

above everything else is 

the joy of the sounds of language.  

I have only one rule for reading it: 

please read a poem OUT LOUD."

 ~ Eve Merriam, 

in The Place My Words are Looking For

I don't think I've ever taken weeks to find the right word (I'm also not a beloved, accomplished poet like Eve Merriam!), but there have been times that I've struggled for days, just trying to come up with the perfect word or line.  I love how Ms. Merriam mentions the joy of the sounds of language, and that poems are meant to be spoken aloud.