Rén is a traditional Chinese character that can be roughly translated as "humanity" or "humaneness". The rén rén is a "benevolent" or "humane person".

Bǐ mò is a term for "pen and ink", "words" or bits of writing.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Oh That Sound

Let's just say this comes of homesickness. Let's just say I've been thinking about how people pronounce their words indistinguishably where I am. Let's just say I can't wait to get back to The South. Let's just say this has terrible flow, is fictional and I'd love some comments to help me draft it.



Oh That Sound


“But mah dee-uh, sh-oughly you cain’t be seery-us,”
this fine southern woman said to me, sitting in a salon chair
with her curls being perfectly set by an overpaid stylist,
“Whut do you mean you’ve nevah gotton yauh hay-uh dunn?”
It wasn’t the first time that my “do” was commented on
and I was sure that it would not be the last. Such is the life
of a less-than-southern woman. I smiled back with affection –
she was a recently acquired family member and I loved
every moment of it. The fifty-something-you’d-best-not-guess-how-old
leaned forward between curls and sipped at her tea, always sweet.
 “In mah guhlhood, I would nevah hay-ve gone aowt!”
Over the next four hours, I had my “hay-uh dunn”
and my “nayals dunn” like “ruhspectable fulk” while being prodded
 as to whether or not my “yung may-yun” was “treetin’ you raht.”
 After being away for so long, I couldn’t imagine leaving again. 


Here's to posting a first draft. 


No comments:

Post a Comment

Place your observations in the box.

Popular Posts