The anthropologist Jack Goody has claimed that phonetic writing has greater civilizational potential than, say, the hieroglyphs of the Egyptians or the Chinese characters.  I most forcefully disagree with Goody in this respect.  I believe that writing and imagery are inseparably connected.  It is not merely the play of ideas that gives poetry its force, nor only the play of sound in spoken words, but also the play of the images of letters, words and lines over a page.  I believe we should enhance the imagery of written language, rather than weaken it... Contribute to this project