In Praise of The Dictionary

(Holidays are over, now git back ter writin'!)



Up until last summer I had the same dictionary for about 25 years... a paperback one about the size of a James Michner novel, edges worn and browned, with a missing cover. It was one my mother had gotten me from one of the cleaning jobs she did at a small shop that sold paperbacks... after a time they'd throw out any old books and tear the cover off so they would get credit - and my mom found the book in a box with their trash and brought it home to me. And I like to think I gave it a good life considering where it was heading.

But last summer I realized, "Hey, I feel like a real writer now!", and decided it was time to invest in a true dictionary. You know the kind, the big hardcover ones that should have a pedestal all their own - or at least come in handy for cracking nuts, as the case may be. So I went to the local bookstore and found a big momma of a dictionary... Webster's New World College Dictionary, supposedly the very same one used by the Associated Press (if I'm to believe the little logo on the cover). And talk about a find, it also came with a free Thesaurus - well, you can imagine I didn't need any more convincing. Home it came.

Since I love to read and to write, and you probably do as well, you know how wonderful and important a good dictionary can be... there's a little power to even just holding it in your hands. Personally, I love just paging through it randomly, coming across words that are new to me, or even freshening up on the meanings of words I use all the time. It's the same thrill as paging through a good set of encyclopedias - you never know what you'll come across of interest.

And since we are writers, words are our tools... which makes the dictionary our toolbox. I think it is something every writer needs to keep handy, a good heavy one, with deep definitions and maybe even little sketches. Page through it regularly. Study meanings... origins... see where the many words we use come from, and admire the beauty and versatility of the Enlish language. I guarantee you it will help your writing.

One thing I do often with mine is to page through it randomly and make a list of words that are new to me. I then keep this list on my desk for when I write, and sometimes I find that one of those chosen words will fit perfectly in a new poem. I don't force a word into a poem, since then when someone reads that poem they will feel that word like a nail that isn't sunk properly in a 2X4... it will "pop" out of the piece, and not in a good way.

But I suggest using caution when using new words this way... some people can tend to over do it. I've read poems out there that about make my head spin from all the fancy words crammed into one poem, and that really in the end doesn't add to the poem. It takes away from the flow and understanding of the piece. Heck, if I need to grab my own dictionary to find out what every other word in the poem means, then I'm going to give up on the poem. And a poem isn't about drilling new words into the reader, or showing off your own vocabulary skills... it's about sharing an image, feeling or experience... and those things should be able to come across easy to each other. We're all human, we all share pretty much the same feelings and trials in life - a poem should be able to reach a major percentage of the world.

I suggest using maybe one or two new words per poem, if that is something you're into doing... enough so that you as a write feel you have expanded yourself, and maybe said what you needed to say in a more precise way... but not enough that you've overpowered your reader - instead, you taught them also a new word or two, in addition to touching them with your poem. I feel moderation falls into the realm of writing as well as eating, lol.

But as you browse your dictionary and enjoy the pleasure of learning new words and meanings, don't let that take away your desire and in fact your poet's right to play with words. Because poetry is not just about rules and grammer and structure... it is also art. And art must be original and it must flow and it must also grow and fill new areas. It is an adage I learned from music, that also applies to writing - first you learn the rules, then you learn how to break them. And this is a key point where originality can step in. Yes, rules and structure are important - but you have to also learn to breath around and outside of them, and follow where your heart wants to take you at times.

One thing I sometimes do in my own writing, and I've seen it in some of the most famous poets' work, is to use a word in a different context than it was meant for - case in point: my poem, "Tenement Juliet"... in this poem I was writing about a Hispanic girl I knew at work, and about how different our lives are, and how impossible it might be for two people like us to ever form a deep relationship... I think sometimes people are just too different to make things work... so this poem is about feeling that gap, but also finding the bridges there too, for the things we all do have in common... but anywho, in this poem I used the word "butters" to describe how my "Juliet" walks... now it was something purely subconcious when that word came to me... it just was there, and it felt right, it felt like inspiration, so I used it. It was only in time after writing the poem that I realized just how it worked (to me, at least), tho in truth the word really stands out from the context of the poem. But I felt it described the smoothness of her movements, I felt it gave a warmth and sweetness to her image... and I find it also gave a color to it as well, since at that point of the poem she was walking in the light of the setting sun, and I saw it in my mind as being very warm and golden on her skin. So it was all a case of a word hitting me from nowhere, and not really fitting in with the poem, but yet I felt it worked so right. I don't think it's something you can force, but I'd like to suggest that when you're writing, and you feel something like this hit you - GO WITH IT! There is a 99% chance it is coming from some inspiration inside of you, and maybe after it's written you'll see what it all meant. At the least it will add a uniqueness to your poetry, if you sometimes twist words a bit and think in a new way.

Another little trick I enjoy sometimes is actually making up words that don't exist, yet you still get the feel of a meaning there - case in point, my poem "Poema", that is in my first book. I am writing about my first love when I was 19, and I am adding celestial imagery in it since astronomy was something that she and I shared. And I used the word "Gravitic", which as far as I have found does not exist in any dictionary. But again, it came to me, I liked the feel of it when I read it and spoke it aloud - so I used it. And to me it still conveyed a feeling and a meaning, of being light but also being heavy and grounded... basically, of how it felt to love this young girl. I've done this a few times in other poems of mine, and again it's something that just comes to me and then I run to the dictionary and try to see if I'm remembering a word or is it something strange and not catalogued. If it's something totally created, then I next have to look it over a bit and see if others will read it and possibly get the same meaning and feeling I'm trying to get across if I use it. Does it say what I want it to say? Does it flow to the point where the reader will understand it even tho' it really isn't a word? This is kind of the outer fringe of my artsy world, so it's something I explore with caution... but again, when it happens, when these words or ideas hit me, I don't toss them away... I feel they are coming from somewhere and have some value. And I think it is in these little tweaks and tears that originality can find root.

Words are beautiful things. If you write, then you have to love words. They must be like wine or candies or fruits to your mouth. They should conjur up images and feelings, memories and desires. Some will be negative, some will be good... but don't be afraid to use them all... or afraid to learn new ones.. or fear finding new ones that are all your own. There can still be expression even with a little jibberish thrown in, to keep yourself and the reader sharp. Life and writing are all about learning, and that is a process that never ends. So hold those beautiful creatures called words close to you, and share them frequently. And give in to inspiration when it comes to find you and bring you news.