Finding my voice

Finding my voice

Today's challenge is to write a poem based in sound,  perhaps incorporating overheard language or regionalism.  I've recently written this for a poetry group I belong to,  for our next meeting where we'll be sharing poems written in dialect.  It really needs to be read out loud, but hopefully the use of vaguely 'phonetic' spellings will help give a flavour of the various English dialects I've used.


When I was a kid I didn't have an accent
I just went dahn tahn wiv me muvver
Played in the alley
Greeted me mates "aw righ?"
Pronounced things to be lahvly or orrid
Admired flahs in the park
Took trips to Sahfend
Drank wor'er nuffin be''er
Finished sentences wiv a question,  din I?
Forgot me aitches, middle 't's.
Grammar school knocked that out of me.

At university,  oop north,
Surrounded by a Babel of accents
I made my accent stronger to create an identity
To ward off the Lancashire drawl,
"Oreet lass?"
But new words crept into my daily speech,
I began to go to lectures "10 while 3"
Ask for baps instead of rolls
Have a brew,  not a cuppa,
Say "aye" instead of "yeah".

Moving to Bristol was a revelation
Taking my kids to school that first morning
I heard "Oi wants a sweatshirrrt"
Was greeted in shops " awlroight moy luvver?"
Got blank looks when I asked for a seeded bloomer, or a split tin.
But over the years,  more new phrases crept in,
I began to ask "where's that to?"
Say "ark at 'ee" (in an ironic way)
Describe things as lush
Thank bus drivers "cheers drive".

At work,  using my 'posh voice'
People made gentle fun of my Essex girl twang
Escaping from my mouth whenever I got excited,  or mad.
And I learned to love its cadences
Its idiosyncrasies,  its edginess.

Essex is who I am
With a little bit of T'Oldham Tinkers
And the Wurzels thrown in.



© Copyright 2018. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved



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