From time to time, we each experience conversations that create more mystery (or misery) than understanding. Maybe we don’t speak the same language. Or one participant has lost language due to disease or brain injury. Even two people who know each other well can find themselves in what a former boss called “violent agreement,” seemingly disagreeing about something due to a misunderstanding.

Sometimes different languages have similar words, like Madre, Mutter, and Mother or familia and family. Sometimes, not so much: consider papillon, mariposa, and Schmetterling, none of which sound a bit like butterfly. In such cases, lack of common vocabulary asks us to decipher meaning by tone and body language alone. Sometimes, we rely on context and trace a metaphorical trail, as when a dementia sufferer told me, “This (situation) has been going on for twenty moneys.” Even with a common vocabulary, don’t we sometimes struggle to glean meaning? (And wouldn’t it be nice if all conversations were about creating mutual understanding?)

As poets, we understand the challenge of creating meaning. We have each struggled to construct accessible (yet somehow unique) metaphors and effective sensory elements, explored structure, and shaped sound in serial revisions to enhance meaning. It’s an impossible, wondrous task to, as Samuel Taylor Coleridge proposed, put the best words in the best order.

Over the next two months, our program presenters will explore how we can strengthen our poetry using sound and silence, offering ideas and examples as to how each might be used to create or enhance meaning in our work. I invite you to join us. (Members, you will have access to a replay if you cannot attend.)

Here are a few more ways to connect with poetic happenings and opportunities in the coming month:

• Our FALL ROUNDUP identifies all manner of poetic happenings and opportunities.
• Try one of our eclectic members-only contests. October features a special Poetry Day contest sponsored by Pella Windows & Doors of Nashville. We are looking for thoughtful, imaginative, and well-crafted work that explores the theme of windows and doors in whatever literary direction inspires you. Entries accepted October 1-15. For more details follow the link.
• Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World is worth a watch.
• Tennessee Voices Anthology , 2025-2026 is available! (Also, check out books available from our member authors when you click the link.)
• Our 70th Annual Poetry Festival contests will open soon! Stay tuned for details.

I invite you to join us October for our next monthly member meeting, during which member and Oak Ridge Poet Laureate John C. Mannone will present “The Architecture of Sound in Free Verse.” In addition to discussion, take-home prompts will be provided. Afterward, we will announce monthly contest winners and share our poetry. Bring a poem or two. I hope to see there.

With anticipation—
Lisa Kamolnick
President, Poetry Society of Tennessee