I wanted to add a note to what I wrote earlier this month about prosody, the music of meaning that can enter our own voices when we speak what is true from our hearts.
(If you didn’t have a chance to look at it then, or have recently joined this newsletter, you can read what I wrote on my website.)
Poetry and prosody are matters that our contemporary culture tends to relegate to the sidelines, as merely interesting or pretty “extras” that are not essential to life. In my experience, however, nothing could be further from the truth. Poetry and prosody embody qualities that make life itself worth living.
Prosody and the Vagus Nerve
One of the most interesting places we can see this is in the work that scientists and healers around the world have been doing in connection with the healing of trauma.
For example, psychologist Stephen Porges gives prosody a central place in his research on the vagus nerve and how we process traumatic experiences. When we hear words that are warm, melodic, and rhythmically soothing, our mammalian nervous systems themselves relax. The muscles in our ears and eyes and face loosen, our breathing deepens, our heart grows more calm, and our body moves into states that are conducive to the digestion of food and of experience alike.
Is it any wonder that people turn to poetry in times of great joy or grief?
Poetry and Life
Here’s how the poet William Carlos Williams puts the same matter in his own quietly musical way:
In your own experience, are there any poems or songs or sayings or stories that have touched your life in this way?
If you have a moment to drop me a line, I’d love to hear about them. They help nourish my own attempt to speak in ways that are healing.
The Thirukkural 1330 Album Launch in Dallas
I’m delighted to be speaking in Dallas on April 25th to celebrate the release of the tenth and final album of Lydian Nadhaswaram and his sister Amirthavarshini’s The Thirukkural 1330 project.
You can learn more about the project here:
If you or anyone you know lives in or near Dallas, it would be wonderful to meet. Click here for more information.
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Together we can explore what Ezra Pound calls “news that STAYS new.”
