Hello Poets and Friends, Björn here.
Today it is time to revisit a tool we last did almost six years ago, namely onomatopoeia, or the way words and sentences are formed from the way they sound.

The dictionary is filled with words (for instance here or here)  created from how we mimic a sound, and there are actually specific wordlists for these, sometimes including words that are not even in the formal dictionaries (yet) as they may be part of slang, or are borrowed from other languages.

Cartoons often use strong visual and onomatopoeic pictures and invent their own words.

Tying together the sound of the poem as it is being read with its meaning strengthens its meaning, or maybe add another layer of irony that is only understood if it is read aloud.

Consider for example

‘Out, Out — ‘ by Robert Frost.

The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard
And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,
Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.
And from there those that lifted eyes could count
Five mountain ranges one behind the other
Under the sunset far into Vermont.
And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,
As it ran light, or had to bear a load.
And nothing happened: day was all but done.
Call it a day, I wish they might have said
To please the boy by giving him the half hour
That a boy counts so much when saved from work.
His sister stood beside him in her apron
To tell them ‘Supper.’ At the word, the saw,
As if to prove saws knew what supper meant,
Leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap—
He must have given the hand. However it was,
Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!
The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh,
As he swung toward them holding up the hand
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all—
Since he was old enough to know, big boy
Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart—
He saw all spoiled. ‘Don’t let him cut my hand off—
The doctor, when he comes. Don’t let him, sister!’
So. But the hand was gone already.
The doctor put him in the dark of ether.
He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath.
And then—the watcher at his pulse took fright.
No one believed. They listened at his heart.
Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.

The beginning introduces the menace of the buzz saw both through specific words such as buzz saw, gnarl and rattle as well as sibilance to strengthen the threat that makes me think of a beast or a snake.

Today I want you to use Onomatopoeia in your poem, to strengthen the imagery through its sound (read it aloud, and maybe even include a recording.

When you have written your poem and posted to your blog with a linkback to Dverse, add the link to Mr. Linky below.

Add a comment, order something from the virtual bar or tell me something from your part of the world. Then remember to visit, listen and read to the other poets that have linked up. Add a comment and be rewarded by insights on your own poem.

And remember to have a fun and wonderful weekend.