The Magic Kingdom

My son is at the stage where he is learning phonics and how the sounds come together, merge and make these marvelous things - words, that you can then use to build sentences. This is truly magical! In fact, it has restored my absolute wonder and delight with language as I re-experience the world through the eyes of a 5 year old.

Just think, three simple letters...M...A...N. Put them together and you have a word that gives us at least rudimentary sketch of something. Something those of us who communicate in English can understand. And its only a sketch, we can colour it in however we like. The possibilities feel endless.

For example I could use this piece of the sketch as a part of the following:

"Man! I can't believe the G- force this spaceship has when we drop the hammer" remarked Adam the space ranger.

Or how about:

"Man, woman and child filed reverently through the temple doors, entering the antechamber perfumed with the scents of burning sage and sweet grass and drawn forward by the hope promised by the mystery within. "

Or even,

"The man stood alone, tears snaking through the furrows around his mouth carved by the grief he could never express, dissolving the mask that had been held in place all those years."

Gosh the possibilities are truly endless! Three letters, ...one syllable, ....one noun forming a quick sketch for us to pour all the creative licence that we can muster into it. A canvas with only one speck of colour just waiting for us to pick up the brush and make it our own. I feel like I found the key to some magical realm all over again!

Language, has the potential to evoke so much within. What lies within is different for each of us and yet we have enough common ground to share a part of that experience. How is it that the symbols that we call letters can penetrate beyond our mind and evoke such feeling, such sensation? If I ever held any doubt about our power to create, it vanishes in the face of the wonder language holds.