Kaye and Stutter

 Victoria Sabatino 

November 2, 2022 

Date and Time Reflection 


As a speech major, I feel as though it would be a waste if I did not write about the poem ‘repetition’ in Date and Time, specifically the second half where Kaye talks about his stutter. To discuss a bit more about this fluency disorder, I turned to ASHA- the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. There are three main kinds of grouping stuttering falls into. First, is repetition, which is the kind of stutter Kaye had. A person showing this would sound like “I w-w-w-want to go to the park.” or “Go-go-go away.”  Secondly, prolonging sounds such as “Ssssssam is mean.” Lastly, unnatural pauses or stops in a person’s speaking I want a (pause) sandwich.”

The only thing that I was unaware of, or perhaps it is Kaye’s lack of knowledge about stuttering, is that it is usually biological or a brain difference that causes the stuttering, so he most likely always had it. However, his parent's divorce could have brought about the stutter because often times in trauma or high stress the stutter gets worse. 

Now that I have presented some history, I think it is interesting how Kaye relates his stutter to time. He describes it as feeling himself speak and never being able to get the words out. When speaking, we often default to wanting information in the clearest and quick way possible, especially when we are in a rush or need to do something important. This is not always possible for people with stutters. They need to stop and really think about their words before saying them. There is a time delay. To them, the words take forever, not just a few seconds. 

Also, the idea that Kaye’s parents thought his words were wasteful with his stutter could have an effect on his idea of time because when you feel invisible, less, or like a waste (emotions that are common for people with stutters), time has less meaning and you take up fewer moments with your words. No matter how or when the words come out, they still have just as much meaning.


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