English is strange
Where ravel and unravel mean same
Where “Getting cold feet”
makes no sense to someone from Spain (true story)
But with the multitude of words,
From its rich history
Finding exactly the right one
makes English extraordinary
i have always thought i loved english… writing prose+poetry, reading, reading different eras of english language, studying how it works… but as i started thinking about my relationship to language more, i realized that what i really love is language itself, though i recognize aspects of english that are beautiful and amazing.
when i started becoming interested in “dissimilation,” i realized how much western (english language) imperialism and compulsory assimilation has affected my identity as a jew. these “english is a prison” poems were my attempt at expressing how my monolingual fluency in english has estranged me from my ancestral culture to a huge degree
Poetry is language made strange.
Speaking a second language makes poets of us all.
English is strange.
LikeLiked by 2 people
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English is strange
Where ravel and unravel mean same
Where “Getting cold feet”
makes no sense to someone from Spain (true story)
But with the multitude of words,
From its rich history
Finding exactly the right one
makes English extraordinary
LikeLiked by 1 person
i have always thought i loved english… writing prose+poetry, reading, reading different eras of english language, studying how it works… but as i started thinking about my relationship to language more, i realized that what i really love is language itself, though i recognize aspects of english that are beautiful and amazing.
when i started becoming interested in “dissimilation,” i realized how much western (english language) imperialism and compulsory assimilation has affected my identity as a jew. these “english is a prison” poems were my attempt at expressing how my monolingual fluency in english has estranged me from my ancestral culture to a huge degree
LikeLiked by 1 person