Yesterday, I watched an episode of Star Trek Voyager called "Nemesis" that made me think of poetry. It featured a humanoid race that spoke English but the use of words was slight off-center from our own. For instance, instead of saying "Close your eyes" they would say "Shutter your glimpses". It was easy to understand what they meant because the words they substituted were close enough in meaning, but far enough from our usage to sound poetic to my ear.
I think that is why I enjoy listening to natives of other English-speaking countries. Sure, the accents are lovely, but the way they use the language is fascinating. I speak English, too, but they use it in ways that sound almost like a foreign language.
What does this have to do with poetry? Well, I think the writers of that Star Trek Voyager episode did the same thing that poets do. A good poet takes the words that readers already know and combines them in new, enchanting ways.
If you want to discover some enchanting word combinations yourself, follow the links at Poetry Thursday.
6 comments:
We can find poetry anywhere. We just have to be discernible.
Oh you're so right. Its the unexpected word usages that I often enjoy most in poetry. I hope that Italians, Germans and French people think I'm poetic when I mutilate their languages!
I love this idea! I'm going to try writing a few of my own poetic phrases in a 'new' language.
I love that you found poetry in Star Trek!
Writers, and maybe poets in particular, have a trained ear to seek poetry in words and phrases. I tend to mishear phrases and turn my mistakes into poetry.
Trekkie Poets! I love your post - it opens the box I sometimes get stuck inside.
thats a pretty cool observation. I guess poetry is all around us, we just have to open up our eyes and recognise it
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