The Coalbiters

The beauty of writing, in any form, can be broken into two distinct divisions. First, writing can be beautiful because of 'what it says,' while, second, writing can be beautiful because of 'how it says.' Yet, all too often, prose tends towards the former, whereas poetry (at least of the more traditional variety) strives overly for the latter. Any truly great work of writing, however, will, and must, unite both these forms of beauty. Such perfect works are often very difficult to find. But this brings us to the real point: every truly great work deserves to be read aloud. Why? The beauty of the 'how' lies in many things, but one of the most essential is the sound and cadence of the words as they are spoken. To not read such a book out loud is to deny it a key part of its beauty. J. R. R. Tolkien formed a club, with C. S. Lewis, dedicated to such a task (at least with respect to ancient Nordic texts) and called it the Kolbitars, which refers to one who sits so close to the fire that he bites the coals - literally, a coal biter. Traditionally, such a name has a connotation of laziness in Icelandic culture (if one prefers to spend so much time in front of the warm fireplace that his face and stomach are black with soot, he will likely not be tramping about much in the snow and rain, gathering wood and food and whatnot), but I think that we, like Tolkien, shall stick with the more material interpretation of the word. So, cheers to coalbiters everywhere, but particularly to Stumptown's own coalbiter - Little My - who introduced me to the idea in the first place.


The Coalbiters

The pen once fell upon the page
and left a silent trail
in careful curlings of ink;
black-nighted bridal veil.

Then words arose, as mirrored stars,
a million or more,
and quietly they sat in state,
as mute as they before,

until we found their simple door
and set in it a key
that creased the tender turn of page
and called them out in glee.

For words were not writ down to be
imprisoned by the proud.
We are the brave; we coalbiters
shall carry them aloud.