Eutony. Some words just roll around your mouth like a well-loved piece of candy – sweet and pleasant – a delight and a treat.  There’s dazzle, for one.  And delightful, for that matter.  Tummy is a yummy word.  And raspberry.  But the best word – actually phrase – is salon de belleza.  It’s Spanish for beauty salon.  I learned it in junior high or maybe high school.  From its introduction to me to now, I like to roll it around in my mouth.  Long and slow–salon de belleza.  Of course, a Spanish speaker would say it much faster, but I like to linger over all those vowels.  Linger – now there’s another word. 

Sadly, I don’t have much opportunity to work salon de belleza into daily conversation.  Pity. 

I like the word envelope.  Not envelope.  Envelope.  And then there’s the verb envelope.  Autonomy is fun and anthropological uses all the muscles in your face – I’m convinced of it though I have no proof.

Words originated as verbal communication. The sound of them is important. Pronouncing them is important lest we miscommunicate.  Poetry is the music in words.  With all creative writing in the sense that we’re using words, we must get the sound right.  With poetry it’s imperative.  Rhythm, cadence, the sense of it just rolling off the tongue unbidden like a spiritual wave rolling onto the shore of the psyche. Poetry needs this. Because of the eutony, poetry has power.  It’s why we remember it – the sound adds depth and meaning.  Luscious.  Luminous.  Luxe.

A wealth of words for our pleasure.

And like music which is determined by the silence between the notes – poetry needs space to breathe.  Silence, white space, and then a rolling wave of eutonic syllables installing art into our lizard brains. Into our core so that 50 or 60 years later, we still remember I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.

I would love to write one line that people will remember always.  That makes them smile when they say it.  One line.  What a legacy to leave.  What a dream to aspire to.