Main Entry: sot·to vo·ce

Pronunciation: "sä-tO-'vO-chE
Function: adverb or adjective
Etymology: Italian sottovoce, literally, under the voice
1 : under the breath : in an undertone; also : in a private manner
2 : very softly -- used as a direction in music

Thursday, August 25, 2005

grist for the mill

image: ralph gibson

i never thought i'd find myself podcasting or into the e-book scene after so many years in print and yet oddly, here i am at www.teleread.org where i encourage you to go. That said, I remember years ago working in a friend’s barn and running the old letter press and greasing the rollers with the blackest ink and selecting the Monadnock paper from the sheets he had (and there were many) and then setting the type by hand on a block, fitting in the leading for space and using the old Perpetua face that is so rare and changed, if findable, these days.

Just the rhythm of running the press… the way one had to crank the shaft and then slip in the paper and turn, how it felt like a ballet privee once you adjusted to the movement of it. How you fell into a pattern and a rhythm all your own and could lose yourself in the printing process itself ~ I suppose much in the same way you can lose yourself in the writing of any book. So as i write now, i wonder if i will find my way into a print book or an e-book for any that i write... certainly both would be welcome but there remains something for me in the printed word, even though i plan on publishing a collection of poems at www.lulu.com another site i strongly encourage you to visit.

the point? we come full circle and we never know where we will land. Not exactly anyway, and that is always grist for the mill and keeps things interesting.

sadi ranson-polizzotti for teleread.org