In rural Turkey?

Everybody waved.

People on carts and walking on the road

and the shepherds: everybody except the guards

at armed camps at each edge

of every tiny village surrounded by

quiet hills covered with concrete pillboxes.

I feel sure that was the afternoon

the poet of whom now it’s said, ” belonging

to the past will sing dirges about a shattered

scattered tribe left to wander where in the dark

grave stones line the road”.

Bejan Matur you were born already a poet that day, I feel sure.

Exercise 2. Speak about your favourite University subjects. Write down the most important thoughts. Repeat them for clarity of articulation. Work for precision with a minimum of tension. After you have accurately mastered the phrases for clarity, work for speed in repetition.

Exercise 3. Read the following poem by Carol Levin. Repeat the unknown

words and “jawbreakers” over and over. Comment on the poem. Accuracy first, the speed! Make a recording of the way you sound as you begin your studies, and then make a comparison, re cording every six to twelve months:

The Turks Have A Print For Each Foot

Convince my small girl to place one foot

here and

one foot there

then pants down bend

knees, hunch

over an air seat.

Breezily I say oh sure as if I’d done this dozens

of times. I myself would have loved my own mother

to be holding my blue sweater in one hand and

kleenex in the other with a can do the dodo attitude.

Exercise 4. Discuss the poem with your friend. Quote the text. Speak with distinctness. Remember that you are not in competition with anyone, and that you will progress at your own rate.

Exercise 5. Decode and transcribe a song. Write down the unknown words into your dictionary. Use them in sentences of your own.

Exercise 6. Discuss the decoded song with your friend. Repeat the lines over and over for clarity of articulation.

Exercise 7. Write down your dialogue. Transcribe and read it. Work for precision with a minimum of tension. After you have accurately mastered the phrases for clarity, work for speed in repetition.

Exercise 8. Imagine you and your friend have just visited the movie-theatre. Make up a dialogue on a film you have seen. Use more adjectives and adverbs to convey your emotions. Be aware of the Intonation pattern you choose. Repeat proper names for clarity of articulation.

Exercise 9. You have received an unusual telephone call. Mind the verbs and participles to express you emotions. Speak with distinctness. Comment on the usage of the Intonation patterns.

Exercise 10. Describe your yard. Tell about the friends of your childhood (boyhood).Transcribe the tongue-twisters below. Use them in your story. Choose the Intonation patterns in accordance with the emotions you covey.

I need not your needles, they are needless to me. The soldier’s shoulder surely hurts. Vanity of vanities all is vanity. Fred fed Ted bred and Ted fed Fred bred.

Exercise 11. Read, translate, transcribe and memorize a poem. Repeat for clarity of articulation. Speak about your house, describe the threshold of it. Use as many terms as possible. Pay your special attention to the details. Ask your group mates to express their attitude towards your story.

Threshold Documentary

Outside,

the door doesn’t give

itself away

while the inside

is flamboyant.

Wide,

frame-and-panel, hand rubbed

aged cherry wood

inlaid

with holly stringing.

It glows.

The color reminds one

of the autumn taste of nuts.

The bell packed

from Thailand

sings

above the frame,

its delicate

tongue swings

exits and entrances.

On either side of the door,

bevels

within small pane windows

arch and reflect

colors turned upside

down.

On the porch

people arrive and smile they say

this is a Wizard of Oz window.

Without exception everyone

suspends

the moment of departure

savoring their finger’s embrace

round the jumbo

cherry and ebony

inlaid doorknob. Handcrafted

for hands to hold

before they cross

like sand

slips through the time glass.