Hidden in a corner filled
with the the dusty smell
of old books and lingering
yawns the weight
of paper, I am nonplussed
at the heaviness of words
on paper held down
by a paperweight
and, when I fold them into corners,
they gain in weight,
treasures in my ink-stained hands
while I illatebrate.
How can paper be so light
yet carry so much weight?
Kim M. Russell 2nd April 2022
Royalty free photo from Pxfuel
On the second day of Na/GloPoWriMo, the prompt challenges us to write a poem based on a word featured in a tweet from Haggard Hawks, an account devoted to obscure and interesting English words. I chose the word ‘illatebrate’, posted on 23rd March 2022, meaning to hide in a corner, which I seem to have been doing this past couple of years, mostly reading and writing.
writing in north norfolk 
Thought provoking post, Kim, how indeed.
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Thank you for reading and commenting, Francina.
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I wrote on a similar subject last week for dVerse – the lightness of paper vs the weight of words!
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Great minds and all that! I have been staying away from dVerse and all the other prompt sites be a use I would be tempted to join in. I took my first step back into the wider poetry community yesterday for NaPoWriMo. I will pop over to your website for a read.
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I know the feeling-sometimes it’s best not to look 😅
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Love it so much I’ve shared it through Twitter and my Facebook page, in the hope that more people will be touched by your beautiful words. Physical and metaphysical at the same time, well done!
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Thank you kindly, Angela!
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Yeah, the weight words —spoken or written — carry is immeasurable.
Words can uplift or put one in the dumps.
Loved what you said here. Relatable and true to my feelings on the subject. Thanks Kim. Lovely. Xoxo
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I’m so glad you like it, Selma! xxx
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Lovely poem, and a fabulous word choice.
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Cheers Marilyn! Have you seen the great words Suzy Dent tweets?
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This is one of those things about Twitter–turns out I follow Susy Dent, not that you’d know it from the number of times the algorithm has shown me her tweets (never).
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Yes, I’ve ‘followed’ her tweets for a long time. She an amazing intellect.
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Yes, so much more than ‘Dictionary Corner’!
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Still negative?
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Surprisingly yes! It must be the booster, I might be one of those people who don’t get Covid, or my immune system was strengthened by all that shielding.
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I think immunity weakens from shielding because we’re not exposed to anything but our own bacteria. Is he badly affected by it?
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He had a temperature on Monday and Tuesday, together with an all-over ache, and now it’s more like man-flu. We went for a short walk this afternoon and he had a nap afterwards. He seems a bit better. Thank you for asking, Marilyn.
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Poor guy. It’s sounds exhausting for him.
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Perhaps it’s the hiding in a corner that you refer to that has lead you to find gold such as these two lines :
“How can paper be so light
yet carry so much weight?”
Wow! Love them.
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Thank you so much for reading and commenting!
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This is one of those “of course” poems: it clarifies, illustrates, illuminates something we all feel, and you read it and think “of course”
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I like this description of my poem! Thank you!
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