The right word, by Clifford Thurlow

Dada art collage Atril press — Dada art collage
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If you want to find the right word, stop looking. It will find you.

Words don’t like being prodded about. They want to be left alone. They mingle in dusty corners, conspiring to keep the lost word hidden. They appear – when they appear – like the evening primrose that blooms in the dark when no one is watching. If you want to find the right word, she’ll be in the shadows.

Words have a taste, sweet but subtle, like dark chocolate. Or bitter and implied, like an oyster with a teardrop of lemon. Words carry the scent of old bookshops and childhood memories. Strung together they have a flamenco rhythm, steeped in duende. The right word hits you like rain on your face on a sunny day.

Words are cruel and spiteful sometimes, wise and loving at others. Words have a sense of irony.

Words know that there is always the right word and no other word will do. Words believe in brevity – the soul of wit, said Shakespeare, a man never at a loss for words. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it needs a thousand words to describe a picture.

The right word at the right time stops wars, cures heartaches, mends bridges, sweeps away barriers. The wrong word is the dropped match that lights a forest fire.

Words want to be sampled, relished, rolled around the tongue. Words need breathing space in the shape of commas, colons, semi-colons and full stops. Words are not fond of exclamation marks! Words are individual. They are content to be chained together in sentences and paragraphs, but remain mavericks, outsiders beyond the crowd, the mob, the gang.

Words are forceful but fair, flexible, yet solid, strong, dependable. Words are multi-cultural, without prejudice. They believe in freedom, equality, equanimity. If a word were a man, he’d be a man of his word.

Clifford Thurlow Atril press — Clifford Thurlow was born in London and started work as a junior reporter on a local newspaper aged 18. He has travelled extensively through Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. He worked as the editor of the Athens News in Greece, managed a travelling dolphin show in Spain and studied Buddhism in India, leading to the publication of his first book, Stories from Beyond the Clouds, an anthology of Tibetan folk stories.
He met actress Carol White in Hollywood and wrote her memoirs, Carol Comes Home. It was the first of a dozen books as a ghostwriter, including the Sunday Times bestseller Today I’m Alice – the story of multiple personality disorder survivor Alice Jamieson. His latest book, “How to Rob the Bank of England”, was published in September 2024.
www.cliffordthurlow.com

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