Joy of Words

I find joy in words,
in their different combinations:
the way they flock like birds
or break off into sentences;
their meanings and suggestions,
their gathering in poems, songs,
and stories of reality or fiction.

I find joy in peace and quiet,
time alone to read and write,
let imagination and words run riot,
to play with rhythms and rhymes,
travel in space and time,
revisit old words and invent some new,
something I can share with you.

Kim M. Russell, 5th November 2024

Image by James Wainscoat on Unsplash

It’s Tuesday, firework night in the UK, election night in the USA, and Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub with Merril, our host.

Merril says that we’re taking a break from everything and remembering to find joy. I love the excerpt she chose about choosing joy in the Life-Learnings from 18 Years of The Marginalian by Maria Popova, and the poems by Mary Oliver and Jo Harjo. Merril asks us to write about things that bring us joy: tiny things, like a favourite mug, or big things like seeing so many people voting, or huge, like life itself. She suggests looking around the room or out of the window and finding something there that brings us joy. There are no limits, there can be more than one thing, and there is also no designated form.

42 thoughts on “Joy of Words”

  2. You captured the heart of the poet/writer – the joy in words. Love the images of words as flock of birds as in the murmuration in the sky. I also find joy in letting our imagination run riot, revisiting and creating something new. Sounds like a wonderful time to me, smiles.

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  4. This made me smile and laugh in recognition. Yes! It is a special joy.

    “I find joy in words,
    in their different combinations:
    the way they flock like birds
    or break off into sentences;”

    Thank you so much, Kim!

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  6. Poetry is surely a murmuration of sound and thought, with each element attuned to what is going on around it, what is happening and where there is to go. The process which leads to the result — “something I can share with you” — is the joy. (Except when some of those birds starts crowing for Trump…)

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  8. It brings joy to think of words flocking like birds and the peace and quiet to pull those combinations together. The older I get it is the peace and quiet that brings the most joy. Such lovely thoughts and sentiments expressed in your poem. Very nice Kim 🙂

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