I recently read a quote by Marley and Me author John Grogan: “In the English language, it all comes down to this: Twenty-six letters, when combined correctly, can create magic. Twenty-six letters form the foundation of a free, informed society.”
To me that is incredible, and proves that writing is just as much an art form as putting paintbrush to canvas, or creating music. Anyone can paint or strum a guitar or combine letters into words into sentences, but very few do it magically.
So I’m delighted when I stumble upon one of these elusive written combinations. Those rare instances when you’re inexplicably struck by words. That moment when you read something once and you know it’s good, but you’re not sure why. So you read it again and maybe a third time. A window has been cracked, and you breathe in the fresh air. You’re transported by words alone.
I’ve decided to use this space to spotlight the ones that particularly move me. To start things off, here’s the first, from Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God:
“There is a basin in the mind where words float around on thought and thought on sound and sight. Then there is a depth of thought untouched by words, and deeper still a gulf of formless feelings untouched by thought.”
Pure magic.
