IMTIAZ DHARKER:Sometimes you hear a phrase again and again and it makes a kind of a rhythm that sticks in your head. That's what happened to me when I heard the same phrase on television and in news reports and it's a phrase that seems to have stuck in the throat of the English language. The whole first part of this poem
IMTIAZ DHARKER:is made up of things that people actually said just rearranged a little. Speech Balloon. "The Barnsley manager was lost for words to describe his feelings when Chelsea fell to the Tykes. 'We played fantastic. I never thought we'd do it again but we did, we did and all I can say is I'm over the moon,' they said he said
IMTIAZ DHARKER:'I'm over the moon,' he said. The Hollywood mum was way beyond thrilled according to friends, when she delivered into the world, not one bouncing baby but twins instead to the astonished dad. And 'I'm over the moon,' they said she said. 'I'm over the moon,' she said. Bollywood's hottest couple was proud to be blessed by the jubilant father,
IMTIAZ DHARKER:the superstar. 'It's a match made in heaven,' he said to the press, 'Between two shooting stars with shining careers and I'm over the moon, of course,' he said. 'I'm over the moon,' he said. The Malaysian nation went mad with joy on independence day in its fiftieth year
when a doctor-come-part-time-model, a local boy, went up into space in a Russian Soyuz, and in zero gravity performed his namaz. 'All of Malaysia over the moon,' they said on the news, 'Twenty-seven million people over the moon.' You must have noticed, it's really quite clear,
IMTIAZ DHARKER:this condition has spread, it's happening there, it's happening here. It's full-blown, grown beyond every border, to the furthest corner of every country where English is spoken or English is known. There's no-one just satisfied or mildly pleased or chipper or chirpy, contented or cheerful,
IMTIAZ DHARKER:no-one glad or gratified, delighted or jubilant, elated, ecstatic, joyful or gleeful. All the happy people have left this world. You won't come across them any time soon and if it's happy sound-bytes you're looking for you need to look way over your head for the words and balloons. To the place where the cow keeps jumping over and over
IMTIAZ DHARKER:with all the footballers, team managers and lottery winners, world superstars, heroes and champions and legends and lovers and proud mums and dads and the whole of Malaysia over the moon over the moon over the, over the, over the moon."
Imtiaz Dharker performs and describes her poem Speech Balloon.
She details how the poem comes from the repetition of some words and phrases in speech and the media, to the extent they become meaningless clichés.
Teacher Notes
Pupils could create a chart of themes they think the poem covers, and how Imtiaz’ use of language and pace supports or enables this.
As a vocal exercise, pupils could look at whether the meaning of the poem changes from being read on the page to being read aloud.
Does anything else jump out at them which they hadn't previously noticed?
Curriculum Notes
This topic is relevant for teaching English Literature at KS4 & GCSE/National 4 & 5.
More from the series: Contains Strong Language
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