reading out loud...not just for poetry

I loved this week's totally optional prompt to read poetry out loud. My love for this prompt can be traced back throughout many, many years of reading everything (not just poetry) out loud. My best friend used to tease me about reading to the birds and the bugs and the grass in the backyard. But it's not just the birds and the bugs and the grass. I read to the dogs, to the trees, to anyone who happens to be within listening distance. I read freely and openly and out loud. And I love the whole experience of it all.

There is something comforting and inspiring about hearing words of wisdom or tragedy or beauty roll off your own tongue, infusing every ounce of air around you with the pure emotions of the words. You feel the words differently as they resonate within your chest and then free themselves into the expanse of open air around you. You find beauty in the pure sound of the words, the syllables, the pronunciations, the inflection of the voice...beauty that is more than just the meaning of the word itself.

As the words form on my lips, as they vibrate in my throat, as they escape the inhabitance of my body and find release in a greater beauty beyond...as I read out loud the words of poets and fiction writers and autobiographers and myself...I am empowered. I too become infused with the beauty of language, the beauty of words, and the world opens its windows a little wider, the wind blows a little stronger, and serenity washes away the doubts, the fears, the hesitations. With each word, I breathe in tranquility and beauty. With each word, I release vibrancy and passion and life.

And so I will continue reading out loud, not just poetry, but everything.