TOOK THE WORDS RIGHT OUT OF MY MOUTH

A Visit from Poet/Editor Will Wright

by Isabelle McAlevey, Shenandoah Intern

Hi-res Author Photo - William WrightWhen I learned William Wright was coming to sit down with the Shenandoah interns I was unsure of what to expect. I did what I could online to get a sense of his poetry. Rich with imagery evocative of earthiness and rooted in the American South, I found Wright’s poetry a delight to read. I was interested to hear him discuss what inspired him and what he looked for in poetry as a poet, anthologist, and reviewer (amongst other things I am sure).

He had many intriguing and thoughtful ways to answer the range of questions produced by our group, from the recommendation of A Canticle for Leibowitz, to his description of using a “pebble in a pool” approach to effectively review a piece of literary work. What most stood out to me during our time with Will Wright, however, was his mentioning that he has synesthesia and feels a desire to put particularly sound-dense words or language in his mouth and taste them. This got me thinking about how the average reader experiences poetry, and the difference in effect poetry can have when just read on a page, versus recited aloud.

Wright said Gerard Manley Hopkins was a poet he particularly enjoyed when it came to poetic diction and sound-density, and so I thought perhaps I would read some of Hopkins’ work aloud to see if I felt similarly. I selected at random from a list of poems I found, and read first “The Starlight Night.” Right away, the title indicated to me a sense of playful magic in its rhyme. Lo and behold, the poem did contain elements of fairy magic, and lines such as “Down in dim woods the diamond delves! the elves’-eyes!/The grey lawns cold where gold, where quickgold lies!” did not disappoint when it came to texture and the savory nature of the words as they departed my mouth.

I had never really thought before of a desire to taste words, to want to put them in one’s mouth and experience them in an entirely new dimension. Maybe we can fulfill some iota of this desire by speaking the words out loud, but when I reflect on it, it does seem sort of a shame that we cannot replace the words to our mouths and taste them, jumble them around with our tongues, and pass them over our teeth. Although I do not have synesthesia, I think I was mostly able to grasp what Wright meant when he said he wanted to put words in his mouth and taste them. I could not determine exactly what type of synesthesia this might fall under, but given that the word stems from the Greek words for “together” and “sensation,” I would say it is safe to say the urge to taste a word is a synesthetic notion.

wright bookOther than discussing Hopkins’ poetry as a source of inspiration, and his passion for the sound of words, Wright said it was Leon Stokesbury’s The Made Thing that first shifted his focus from short stories to poetry as a young writer. He said he swiped the book after class one day, and it was one of the best things he ever did. I really enjoyed when he shared this story and was able to pinpoint a turning point for his interest and career. Overall, it was fun and engaging to hear Wright talk about his work and what he admires in the work of others. His identity as an author is authentically Southern, and it was fascinating to hear him talk about how the South and sounds influence his writing. Ultimately, it was his mention of his desire to taste words and language that really stood out to me, and got me thinking about the way we experience literature.


recent-meR. T. Smith has edited Shenandoah since 1995 and serves as Writer-in-Residence at Washington & Lee. His forthcoming books are Doves in Flight: 13 Fictions and Summoning Shades: New Poems, both due in 2017.