The Power of Words

featuring author and founder of Electric Eclectic Books, Paul White

Having read the interview with Paul White, which is linked at the bottom, it resinated with me because I, too, realised the power of words from an early age.

I thought about how I started writing. My parents fostered children, and I was the eldest of four siblings. I would entertain them by making up stories. Later, as I got older, I wanted to escape the noise and clutter downstairs. So I tucked myself away in my bedroom and wrote adventures.

My stories were mainly me escaping to wherever I wanted, and to be whoever I wanted. Eventually, they evolved into stories where I wasn’t always the main character!

Paul shared a poem he had written when he was eight. I didn’t start writing poetry until I was a teenager. I loved writing for my friends and making them as humorous as possible.

This is one I wrote when I was about thirteen. It’s still wacky, and still makes me laugh!

The Fly

One day when I was young,
A fly wanted to die on my tongue
It stuck like a pot of glue
And I didn’t know what to do

I shouted my mum but she didn’t hear
And my dad was out on the beer
So I scraped it against my teeth
And spat it out onto a leaf

As I wiped the leaf against my tongue
There it stuck and damn well hung
Across the middle I tore the leaf,
And then took out my handkerchief

I scraped off the rest in bits
And wiped my tongue across my lips
The glue was light as a feather
And still my lips stuck together!

You can read Paul’s interview here.