WORD WEAVING

WORD WEAVING

By David Lewis

I have an opportunity to observe a group of people, about a dozen,  joined together in a relationship I can only describe as tribal. Though not related by blood in any way, they are related by intellectual bonds and avidly share a  creative interest. They relate to one another almost as though  conversing with their own consciousness.

During the Tribe’s regular meetings the members tell stories while they weave at a virtual loom. The warp for the loom is composed of parallel threads like the lines on a writing tablet. On the loom is a “series tapestry” that is never finished but is added-to at each meeting. Each story-teller adds weft to  the tapestry as they relate their story, while the listeners cry, laugh, or ponder as each story is spoken. When a story is completed, the listening members might ask questions or request a reprise - or they might quietly regain their composure from an unusually sad story so they might be able to weave their own story with a steady voice.

As with any group of artists, the techniques, the compositions and the final appearance have a distinct personal signature that reflects the  personality, training, scope of knowledge, sensitivity and imagination of each weaver.

One poet’s work is so polished, precise and succinct that the threads left in his weft are taut, totally lacking in lint and multicolored and iridescent to such an extreme they seem to glow. Never considered finished, any addition to his tapestry is subject to further polish and revision

Several story teller’s weavings indicate that they are writing chapters of a much larger work. Their successive panels of weft all have distinctive sections that identify their continuity.

Sad stories betray their presence by the bleak colors included in the weave. A surprise ending is indicated by very bright colors of red to green at the ends; red indicating an unpleasant surprise.

The weave of a teller of supernatural tales is completely transparent until the ending reveals the story’s conclusion.  The color it assumes at the finish is appropriate to the story’s outcome. The surface of the tapestry has a three- dimensional

character.

One reader, trained in the newspaper trade, condenses any poem or prose piece into a single thread of weft. This is an indication of those days when newspapers were the only purveyors of news and every line of print was distilled.

When a family story is woven, the realism and sincerity infect the listeners with the feeling that the family is also theirs and its history is preserved in the tapestry.

The weave of a fine orator  has a graduated texture that is as revealing of the story’s beat and cadence as a score of music.   With familiarity it is possible to recognize the individual speakers from their weave.  To the very practiced eye it is possible to distinguish fiction from reality.

As  one of the newest acolytes, my own weaving is characterized as being knotty (with a K) and loopy.

The Tribe is publicly known as the Friday Writer’s Group (of Sonoma, California.)

Dave Lewis   December 21, 2012      TOPIC: WRITER’S CHOICE  WORDS:  540