2008-06-02

Monkey knuckles

In Ursula K. Le Guin's Steering the Craft, she has exercises for the writer. Exercise one is playing with the sound of words. For the full description, see the book. Here goes:

Sitting sipping tea.
Fussing fingers typing types.
Precise and neat and tidy.
Taptaptap slap ding!
Zephyrs in my frizzy flutter.
Taptaptaptap ding! Taptap.

But rustle crash! That doesn't go.
The zephyr window yawns and not a breeze comes through, but monkeys! monkeys!
Here they come!
Slap not the ding, but handy feet
scatter crumbs and toast aside.
Monkey butts upon my page. Monkey knuckles thump the butter!
Tea a stream, and dripping down.
Tapping typer mouth an O.

And then no more. The window out.
And screeching swinging bellies go.
All grinning laughs and happy hands.
Another cup to turn.

- read this aloud, with an audience

(I know the taps and dings don't match how a typewriter actually works. Bite me.)

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