There were images I did not understand, but which fell on my mind with such slow opening grandeur that once I distinctly heard the clean and fundamental cracking of trees. First the image, then the thing; first the word in its taste and smell and touch, then the thing it meant, when you were calm enough to look. Images were instantaneous; the meaning alone could be like the unyielding metal taste when you bit on an empty spoon. The initial shock of that language left no room in my head for anything else. But now, each day I turned back to that little blue testament, I had that same sense of instant connectedness. First the image, then the sense.
“I Had Been Waiting” by Alred Kazin. Read in “Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter“.
I love this description of how powerful writing can work with a human mind and spirit in a way that is beyond the plain meaning of the text. As I read this I wanted two things: first, to also read the Bible like this again, letting the images speak before the words are understood.
And second, I want to practice writing like this.