The Selves of Us · Letters
(Piece) Letter- Ryhme & Time
12 September 2026·1,225 readers
The pitter-patter of rain, drip drop of the tap and the splish splash in the bath are words we use to describe all the different ways we interact with water. All languages have these types of words that rhyme but are actually the depictions of sounds that whatever we are bringing to the imagination makes. You can hear the time in the rhyme and it’s something that especially tickles children as their ‘wet’ brains make the connections to the world that’s infinitely fascinating in those ages.
The adult in me feels so happy and grins shamelessly like a child in the rare times I hear rhymes in my first language. Because I live in a place far removed from those experiences now, I guess it’s the unfamiliarity that I don’t take for granted. It’s also not just the sweet reminder but the associations quietly carried in the language that have unquestionably gone into the identity I now carry with me anywhere I am.
I love poetry. And like Kate Thompson Davy wrote— for me, it’s the freedom poetry allows us that gives me the same feeling a child would if they broke all the glasses they wanted to without fear of reprimand. Once or twice like I had soared the skies.
Like all the other art forms, poetry speaks to us differently. With leanings towards the different types, but I can’t help feeling particularly saddened at how it seems to be slipping away from us because of the heavily image-based artistry we now consume.
Our languages have undoubtedly shaped how far we’ve come in our civilisations; poetry may always be with us.
Expression is such a quintessential human quality. Beauty a never-ending dream for humanity.
The rhythm of your heartbeat is the material of poetic mysteries.
— Tshego
Editor's Note · Roy Hewett
That time plays its inexorable role in the journey of our lives is an incontrovertible fact and force of nature.
And when it has an auditory familial link to ‘rhyme’, the scope of both words is increased manyfold. In that context, the words of Kate Thompson Davy (in her tribute to poet, Carol Felton), evoke powerful images of the impact of poetry:
And poetry… well, unbundled from the constraints of prose, poetry is freer, fierier, fiercer. It is a kind of magic or alchemy, truly: from electric impulses in our wet brains to the inky scratchings on paper, travelling through time and space, to land and catch like sparks on kindling, setting aflame another mind.
This writer’s literary journey has included the privilege of working closely with retired English teacher, Carol Felton, and her talented illustrator, Pam Sparg, in editing her two volumes of outstanding poetry (available from Harry’s Printers in East London).
It was a pleasure to observe in the Foreword of the second volume:
Carol and Pam take us on a poetic and artistic feast of sensory stimulation, sobering historical perspectives, political exposés, philosophical views to ponder, powerful nature and education themes as well as poignant personal reflections. The energy, insights and intellectual engagement that characterise this buffet of words and ideas will certainly satisfy any literary appetite.
If there were any need to further strengthen the case for the evocative nature of Not Just the Rhyme, the two quotes that follow are ’timeless’ in their depiction of the essence of poetry:
Poetry is when an emotion
Has found its thought
and the thought
has found words.
- Robert Frost
Only those who will risk going too far can
Possibly find out how far one can go.
- T. S. Eliot
Best wishes as you ’take time to rhyme’ and beyond.