Do you remember the days when you were learning the alphabet? Perhaps your experience is like mine. When my schoolmates and I had barely mastered the oh-too-familiar alphabet song, we faced the test of recognizing the letters in words. That’s when the problem with consonants arose.
Vowels were easy. If you could make the sound without your teeth, tongue or by squeezing your lips, you had a vowel. Everything else should have been a consonant.
This is when we learned that W and Y could behave any old way they liked. At first I thought our teacher was just playing a joke on us. But no, she was serious. None of my classmates thought this waywardness was something we should have to learn or accept. Couldn’t those letters be forced to behave?
I developed my own almost fool-proof formula. I decided if a W or Y began a word, they were consonants. If they appeared anywhere else in a word, they were vowels. For example, W in window performs as a consonant at the start, and vowel at the end. The same can be said for Y in yummy.
Problem solved. But, oh no, next came the problem of the sounds they made when masquerading as vowels. Y could pretend to be a long I as in psyche, a short I as in gym, or a long E as in silly. W wandered all over the place from uh, to oo to oh to ah. It just wasn’t fair!
Did you breeze through this phase in your learning, or are you like me—still harboring a resentment toward those recalcitrant letters W and Y? Be honest. I bet you are.
#EnglishLanguage #Consonants
SPLINTERS FOR MARCH 2021
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Readers who write in response to one of the prompts listed each month in Splintered Glass, may see their work presented here on the last week of that month. Though poems are preferred, short prose work will also be considered for publication.
Guidelines for submission:
AS IN ROYAL ELEGANCE (10 Year Reunion Portrait)
She was there
the girl who had shouted
her feminine appeal
in jangles, lipstick and perms
while the rest of us
lived in a world of tetherball,
foursquare and hopscotch.
She entered alone,
in elegant simplicity,
and there held thrall
for just a moment
before melting into the party crowd.
Yet, in that instant
she told us all
with her presence only—
I am a Woman now,
I need no male beside me
(such easily acquired evidence)
to prove my femininity.
I AM.
Then, as a quiet, gracious queen,
she glided toward her audience.
#Feminism #SchoolReunionPoetry
BUTTERFLY FLOWN
“My home, where is it?”
Pavlova asked
“Everywhere, everywhere
They welcome me.
And so she danced across the wide world
Leaving behind in the hearts
Of her audience
Memories and dreams.
Butterfly
Borderless, unbounded, dancing, dancing
Across the continents
As the years rolled by.
Suddenly, the music ended….
She was fifty
Breathless now, borderless still,
She crossed that other continent
Into New Dimension.
I like to think she dances there.
#AnnaPavlova #Dancing #RussianCulture #WomenInHistory
THE CONSONANT CONUNDRUM
Do you remember the days when you were learning the alphabet? Perhaps your experience is like mine. When my schoolmates and I had barely mastered the oh-too-familiar alphabet song, we faced the test of recognizing the letters in words. That’s when the problem with consonants arose.
Vowels were easy. If you could make the sound without your teeth, tongue or by squeezing your lips, you had a vowel. Everything else should have been a consonant.
This is when we learned that W and Y could behave any old way they liked. At first I thought our teacher was just playing a joke on us. But no, she was serious. None of my classmates thought this waywardness was something we should have to learn or accept. Couldn’t those letters be forced to behave?
I developed my own almost fool-proof formula. I decided if a W or Y began a word, they were consonants. If they appeared anywhere else in a word, they were vowels. For example, W in window performs as a consonant at the start, and vowel at the end. The same can be said for Y in yummy.
Problem solved. But, oh no, next came the problem of the sounds they made when masquerading as vowels. Y could pretend to be a long I as in psyche, a short I as in gym, or a long E as in silly. W wandered all over the place from uh, to oo to oh to ah. It just wasn’t fair!
Did you breeze through this phase in your learning, or are you like me—still harboring a resentment toward those recalcitrant letters W and Y? Be honest. I bet you are.
#EnglishLanguage #Consonants
Author’s Notes
GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby
“BUTTERFLY FLOWN” was written after the poet heard a reading focused on Pavlova. The poet’s daughter remembers her mother talking about the impact of Pavlova, almost as if her mother had seen the dancer perform in person. This poem was found among the poet’s papers, dated 1992. She had submitted it for review to her Round Robin team, a group of fellow poets. They had suggestions for editing. There is no evidence the poet ever rewrote the poem.
KALEIDOSCOPE—a series by Kathleen Roxby
“THE CONSONANT CONUMDRUM”. This piece reflects the author’s childhood learning experience.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby
“AS IN ROYAL ELEGANCE” was written after the author attended her ten-year high school reunion and is part of a series.
SPLINTERS FOR MARCH 2021
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Readers who write in response to one of the prompts listed each month in Splintered Glass, may see their work presented here on the last week of that month. Though poems are preferred, short prose work will also be considered for publication.
Guidelines for submission:
EN LA PLAZA DE MAYO
(translation in parentheses)
Las abuelitas caminan.
(The grandmothers walk)
Cada jueves,
(Each Thursday)
Las abuelitas caminan
En la plaza—
(In the square—)
Cada jueves
En la plaza.
Y las madres,
(And the mothers)
Las madres también,
(The mothers also,)
Sí, las madres caminan
(Yes, the mothers walk)
En la plaza
Cada jueves
En la plaza.
?Y por qué?
(And why?)
?Por qué ellas caminan0
(Why do they walk)
En la plaza?
0
?Por qué caminan cada jueves?
? Por qué?
Por los ninos…
(For the children…)
Por sus hijos, sus nietos—
(For their children, their grandchildren—)
Por todos los desaparecidos.
(For all those who disappeared).
#Desaparecidos #ArgentinaHistory
DISCOVERY, THE GREAT ADVENTURE, THE WONDER SPELL
A Tribute to Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan
In the dark, quiet hours of night,
I thought of you, Helen:
how locked in lightless soundless
prisons
your energies fought their futile wars
until Annie came
and the guided flow of fingers over hand
wrought the wonder-spell of water streaming.
Lighted by Annie’s beacon
your yearning spirit, that indefinable force
brighter than hope
began the splendid voyages of discovery,
freed at last
by the wonder spell.
#WomenInHistory #HelenKeller #Braille