Thursday 31 December 2009

Pother

POTHER

-noun
1. A commotion or fuss.
2. Mental turmoil.
3. A smothering cloud of dust or smoke.
-verb tr.
4. To confuse or worry someone.
-verb intr.
5. To worry or fuss.



Festive pother
Howling in my ears.
I can't hear the snow sing.

Wednesday 30 December 2009

Snare

SNARE

–noun
1. a device, often consisting of a noose, for capturing small game.
2. anything serving to entrap or entangle the unwary; trap.
3. Surgery. a wire noose for removing tumours or the like by the roots or at the base.
–verb (used with object)
4. to catch with a snare; entangle.
5. to catch or involve by trickery or wile

–noun
1. one of the strings of gut or of tightly spiralled metal stretched across the skin of a snare drum.




What is left of our souls
Caught in a snare of dreams?
Two crows fighting over carrion,
A handful of sand
Shining in the hand of time.

Tuesday 29 December 2009

Eject

EJECT

–verb (used with object)
1. to drive or force out; expel, as from a place or position.
2. to dismiss, as from office or occupancy.
3. to evict, as from property.
4. to throw out, as from within; throw off.
–verb (used without object)
5. to propel oneself from a damaged or malfunctioning airplane, as by an ejection seat























The sea drove against the rocks
As if trying to eject
Frothy rage, unspent passion
For some treacherous mermaid.

Monday 28 December 2009

Scrawl

SCRAWL

–verb (used with object)
1. to write or draw in a sprawling, awkward manner.
–verb (used without object)
2. to write awkwardly, carelessly, or illegibly.
–noun
3. awkward, careless, or illegible handwriting.
4. something scrawled, as a letter or a note.























To
Crawl
Under
Your
Skin
Scrawling my name in
To make you mine,
Breathing in your perfume.

Sunday 27 December 2009

Tide

TIDE

–noun
1. the periodic rise and fall of the waters of the ocean and its inlets, produced by the attraction of the moon and sun, and occurring about every 12 hours.
2. the inflow, outflow, or current of water at any given place resulting from the waves of tides.
3. flood tide.
4. a stream or current.
5. anything that alternately rises and falls, increases and decreases, etc.
6. current, tendency, or drift, as of events or ideas.
7. any extreme or critical period or condition.
8. a season or period in the course of the year, day, etc. (now used chiefly in combination)
9. Ecclesiastical. a period of time that includes and follows an anniversary, festival, etc.
10.Archaic. a suitable time or occasion.
11.Obsolete. an extent of time.
–verb (used without object)
12.to flow as the tide; flow to and fro.
13.to float or drift with the tide.
–verb (used with object)
14.to carry, as the tide does.

–verb (used without object)
Archaic.
1. To happen or befall.























Tide of ideas
Slurping away at time.
Day rises.

Saturday 26 December 2009

Maelstrom

MAELSTROM

–noun
1.a large, powerful, or violent whirlpool.
2.a restless, disordered, or tumultuous state of affairs
3.(initial capital letter ) a famous hazardous whirlpool off the NW coast of Norway.






















A maelstrom of
Haphazard incantations
Created a portal
In the old temple,
Swallowing
Twenty seven hapless tourists
And two smirking camels.

Friday 25 December 2009

Yuletide

YULETIDE

–noun
1. the Christmas season.
–adj.
2. of or pertaining to the Christmas season.



Yuletide ornaments
Forgotten and unloved.
Darkness has eaten us all.


Never mind the gloom!
Best wishes too all.

Thursday 24 December 2009

Tepid

TEPID

-adj.
1. moderately warm; lukewarm.
2. characterized by a lack of force or enthusiasm:






















Golden sand tattoos,
Washed away in tepid waves
And salt on your skin.

Wednesday 23 December 2009

Implacable

IMPLACABLE

-adj.
not to be appeased, mollified, or pacified; inexorable






















Implacable rain,
Dying leaves clogging up drains:
Streets hiss and gurgle.

Tuesday 22 December 2009

Anomaly

ANOMALY

–noun
1. a deviation from the common rule, type, arrangement, or form.
2. someone or something anomalous.
3. an odd, peculiar, or strange condition, situation, quality, etc.
4. an incongruity or inconsistency.
5. Astronomy. a quantity measured in degrees, defining the position of an orbiting body with respect to the point at which it is nearest to or farthest from its primary.
6. Meteorology. the amount of deviation of a meteorological quantity from the accepted normal value of that quantity.
7. Grammar. irregularity.



With him,
Anomaly was the norm
Such was the delight he took
In his inherent uniqueness.

Background using a picture by Tom Check

Monday 21 December 2009

Evanescent

EVANESCENT

–adj.
1. vanishing; fading away; fleeting.
2. tending to become imperceptible; scarcely perceptible.






















Evanescent forms
Capture her fleeting focus.
Warm heater mirages.

Sunday 20 December 2009

Postiche

POSTICHE

–adj.

1. superadded, esp. inappropriately, as a sculptural or architectural ornament.
2. artificial, counterfeit, or false.
–noun
3. an imitation or substitute.
4. pretence; sham.
5. a false hairpiece.






















He
Stole
A mask of gorilla
On the run,
To stage
An impromptu spoof
Of Euripides’ Medea
At a party:
Posthaste pastiche
With a postiche.

Saturday 19 December 2009

Allay

ALLAY

–verb (used with object)
1. to put (fear, doubt, suspicion, anger, etc.) to rest; calm; quiet.
2. to lessen or relieve; mitigate; alleviate



To hold your hand,
Steady your heart beat,
Allay untold worries,
Beat up the monsters in your closet:
That is love.

Friday 18 December 2009

Bench

BENCH

–noun
1. a long seat for several persons.
2. a seat occupied by an official, especially a judge.
3. such a seat as a symbol of the office and dignity of an individual judge or the judiciary.
4. the office or dignity of various other officials, or the officials themselves.
5. Sports.
a. the seat on which the players of a team sit during a game while not playing.
b. The quality and number of the players of a team who are usually used as substitutes.
6. Informal.: Benchpress - A lift in weightlifting that is executed from a horizontal position on a bench, in which the weight is lifted from the chest to arm's length and then lowered back to the chest.
7. Also called workbench - the strong worktable of a carpenter or other mechanic.
8. a platform on which animals are placed for exhibition, especially at a dog show.
9. a contest or exhibition of dogs; dog show.
10.Physical Geography. a shelflike area of rock with steep slopes above and below.
11.Mining. a step or working elevation in a mine.
12.Also called berm - any level strip of ground at the summit or sides, or along the base, of a slope. .
–verb (used with object)
13.to furnish with benches.
14.to seat on a bench or on the bench.
15.to place (a show dog or other animal) in exhibition.
16.to cut away the working faces of (a mine or quarry) in benches.
17.Sports. to remove from a game or keep from participating in a game






















You and I
Reading on a bench
Apart yet together
Bliss.

Thursday 17 December 2009

Perspective

PERSPECTIVE

–noun
1. a technique of depicting volumes and spatial relationships on a flat surface.
2. a picture employing this technique, especially one in which it is prominent.
3. a visible scene, especially one extending to a distance; vista.
4. the state of existing in space before the eye.
5. the state of one's ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship.
6. the faculty of seeing all the relevant data in a meaningful relationship
7. a mental view or prospect:.
–adj.
8. of or pertaining to the art of perspective, or represented according to its laws.






















Perspective
Is but a room
With a view.
A point of view

Background picture - in its original state - by MacJewell

Wednesday 16 December 2009

Voyage

VOYAGE

–noun
1. a course of travel or passage, especially a long journey by water to a distant place.
2. a passage through air or space, as a flight in an airplane or space vehicle.
3. a journey or expedition from one place to another by land.
4. Often, voyages. journeys or travels as the subject of a written account, or the account itself.
5. Obsolete. an enterprise or undertaking.
–verb (used without object)
6. to make or take a voyage; travel; journey.
–verb (used with object)
7. to traverse by a voyage






















Time
Voyage
Along a line
Ouroboros
Life

Background from an original by Rubyblossom

Tuesday 15 December 2009

Glare

GLARE

–noun
1. a very harsh, bright, dazzling light.
2. a fiercely or angrily piercing stare.
3. dazzling or showy appearance; showiness.
–verb (used without object)
4. to shine with or reflect a very harsh, bright, dazzling light.
5. to stare with a fiercely or angrily piercing look.
6. Archaic. to appear conspicuous; stand out obtrusively.
–verb (used with object)
7. to express with a glare



A fierce glare
Dazzling worlds into submission.
Cold ice in my veins.

Shōki was created by Okumura Masanobu

Monday 14 December 2009

Paucity

PAUCITY

-noun
1 fewness in number.
2 nearly lacking; dearth.



Paucity of sentiment,
Straining life to a maximum:
So much love, in theory,
Yet so little of the real thing
To go by.


Background picture by Piotr Zurek

Sunday 13 December 2009

Cookie

COOKIE

–noun
1. a small cake made from stiff, sweet dough rolled and sliced or dropped by spoonfuls on a large, flat pan (cookie sheet) and baked.
2. Informal. dear; sweetheart (a term of address, usually connoting affection).
3. Slang.
a. a person: a smart cookie; a tough cookie.
b. an alluring young woman.
4. Computers. a message, or segment of data, containing information about a user, sent by a Web server to a browser and sent back to the server each time the browser requests a Web page.
5. South Atlantic States (chiefly North Carolina). a doughnut.
6. Scot. a bun.






















Autumn
Perfect excuse
To nibble on cookies
Especially if shaped like leaves.
Pleasure.

Saturday 12 December 2009

Rhopalic

RHOPALIC

-adj.
Having each successive word longer by a letter or syllable.



I
Do
Not
Live
madly
- Really -
Although...
Strangely
Soliciting
Distraction.

Background built from two images by Rubyblossom

Friday 11 December 2009

Devour

DEVOUR

–verb (used with object)
1. to swallow or eat up hungrily, voraciously, or ravenously.
2. to consume destructively, recklessly, or wantonly.
3. to engulf or swallow up.
4. to take in greedily with the senses or intellect.
5. to absorb or engross wholly






















Evening has fallen
Upon exhausted pilgrims.
Darkness devours light.

Thursday 10 December 2009

Aprosexia

APROSEXIA

-noun
abnormal inability to sustain attention






















He claimed he couldn’t possibly have
Something as preposterous as aprosexia,
Lack of attention being normal for a cat…
Oh, look! Grasshopper!

Wednesday 9 December 2009

Stroke

STROKE

–noun
1. the act or an instance of striking, as with the fist, a weapon, or a hammer; a blow.
2. a hitting of or upon anything.
3. a striking of a clapper or hammer, as on a bell.
4. the sound produced by this.
5. a throb or pulsation, as of the heart.
6. Also called apoplexy, cerebrovascular accident. Pathology. a blockage or hemorrhage of a blood vessel leading to the brain, causing inadequate oxygen supply and, depending on the extent and location of the abnormality, such symptoms as weakness, paralysis of parts of the body, speech difficulties, and, if severe, loss of consciousness or death.
7. something likened to a blow in its effect, as in causing pain, injury, or death; an attack of apoplexy or paralysis.
8. a destructive discharge of lightning.
9. a vigorous movement, as if in dealing a blow.
10.Sports. a hitting of a ball, as by the swing of a racquet in tennis or the controlled jabbing or thrusting with the cue in pool and billiards.
11.a single complete movement, esp. one continuously repeated in some process.
12.Machinery.
a. one of a series of alternating continuous movements of something back and forth over or through the same line.
b. the complete movement of a moving part, esp. a reciprocating part, in one direction.
c. the distance traversed in such a movement.
d. a half revolution of an engine during which the piston travels from one extreme of its range to the other.
13.Swimming.
a. a type or method of swimming.
b. each of the successive movements of the arms and legs in propelling the body through the water.
14.Rowing.
a. a single pull of the oar.
b. the manner or style of moving the oars.
c. Also called stroke oar. the crew member nearest to the stern of the boat, to whose strokes those of the other crew members must conform.
15.a movement of a pen, pencil, brush, graver, or the like.
16.a mark traced by or as if by one movement of a pen, pencil, brush, or the like.
17.a distinctive or effective touch in a literary composition.
18.a single or minimal act, piece, or amount of work, activity, etc.
19.an attempt to attain some object.
20.a measure adopted for a particular purpose.
21.a keystroke.
22.a feat or achievement.
23.a sudden or chance happening, as of luck or fortune.
–verb (used with object)
24.to mark with a stroke or strokes, as of a pen; cancel, as by a stroke of a pen.
25.Rowing.
a. to row as a stroke oar of (a boat or crew).
b. to set the stroke for the crew of (a boat).
26.Sports. to hit (a ball), as with a deliberate, smooth swing of a bat or club.

–verb (used with object)
1. to pass the hand or an instrument over (something or somebody) lightly or with little pressure; rub gently, as in soothing or caressing.
2. Informal. to promote feelings of self-approval in; flatter.
–noun
3. an act or instance of stroking; a stroking movement.






















In the air
The first stroke of frost
Paints wild lace and ferns
On my car’s windows

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Further

FURTHER

-adv.
1. at or to a greater distance; farther.
2. at or to a more advanced point; to a greater extent.
3. in addition; moreover.
–adj.
4. more distant or remote; farther.
5. more extended.
6. additional; more.
–verb (used with object)
7. to help forward (a work, undertaking, cause, etc.); promote; advance; forward



Semi interment had furthered decay
Gratifying her with a smallpoxed face
She had not been meant to boast.
She smiled through the outrage, though,
Knowing to be still far more beautiful
Than the tourists that gaped at her each day.

Monday 7 December 2009

Saucy

SAUCY

-adj.

1. impertinent; insolent.
2. pert; boldly smart



She relished in being saucy
Her mind incredibly pert and sharp:
My heart still hurts from old letters she sent
Mirth and sorrow brought together
In a most outrageous bouquet.

Sunday 6 December 2009

Lighthouse

LIGHTHOUSE

-noun
1. a tower or other structure displaying or flashing a very bright light for the guidance of ships in avoiding dangerous areas, in following certain routes, etc.
2. either of two cylindrical metal towers placed forward on the forecastle of the main deck of a sailing ship, to house the port and starboard running lights.



Your love guides me well
Through torment and calm alike.
Focus in the night.
Clearing out the waves of life
With your smile for a lighthouse.

Crown Point Lighthouse appears courtesy of The Library of Congress

Saturday 5 December 2009

Kvetch

KVETCH

-noun
1. a person who complains a great deal.
2. a complaint.
-verb
3. complain.






















Infernal yowls hiss:
Winds kvetching at my window.
Chastised leaves whimper.

Friday 4 December 2009

Rapporteur

RAPPORTEUR

-noun
1. Someone appointed by an organization, group, or committee to investigate or monitor an issue, and compile and present the findings.
2. One who is designated to record the deliberations of a meeting.























The rapporteur had gone a little overboard
Going graphic where a mere memo might have sufficed.

Thursday 3 December 2009

Wainscot

WAINSCOT

–noun
1. wood, especially oak and usually in the form of panelling, for lining interior walls.
2. the lining itself, especially as covering the lower portion of a wall.
3. a dado, esp. of wood, lining an interior wall.
4. British. oak of superior quality and cut, imported from the Baltic countries for fine woodwork.
–verb (used with object)
5. to line the walls of (a room, hallway, etc.) with or as if with woodwork






















An inside-out house:
Wainscot on the outside;
Wild dreams roaming inside,
Like so many indomitable winds.

Wednesday 2 December 2009

Samurai

SAMURAI

-noun
1. a member of the hereditary warrior class in feudal Japan.
2. a retainer of a daimyo.























Paper samurai
Unravelling on the wall
Robbed of sword by rain.

Tuesday 1 December 2009

Nimble

NIMBLE

-adj.
1. quick and light in movement; moving with ease; agile; active; rapid.
2. quick to understand, think, devise, etc.
3. cleverly contrived






















Nimble dancers
In the flickering light
Celebrating.
Sun breaking free from darkness
Promises of life, once more.

Monday 30 November 2009

Apropos

APROPOS

-adv.
1. In reference to.
2. Appropriately; relevantly.
-adj.
3. Appropriate.






















Comfort to the soul:
Apropos dishes of tea.
Fog tendrils waft by.

Sunday 29 November 2009

Tongue

TONGUE

–noun
1. Anatomy. the usually movable organ in the floor of the mouth in humans and most vertebrates, functioning in eating, in tasting, and, in humans, in speaking.
2. Zoology. an analogous organ in invertebrate animals.
3. the tongue of an animal, as an ox, beef, or sheep, used for food, often prepared by smoking or pickling.
4. the human tongue as the organ of speech.
5. the faculty or power of speech.
6. speech or talk, especially mere glib or empty talk.
7. manner or character of speech.
8. the language of a particular people, region, or nation.
9. a dialect.
10.(in the Bible) a people or nation distinguished by its language.
11.tongues, speech, often incomprehensible, typically uttered during moments of religious ecstasy.
12.an object that resembles an animal's tongue in shape, position, or function.
13.a strip of leather or other material under the lacing or fastening of a shoe.
14.a piece of metal suspended inside a bell that strikes against the side producing a sound; clapper.
15.a vibrating reed or similar structure in a musical instrument, as in a clarinet, or in part of a musical instrument, as in an organ reed pipe.
16.the pole extending from a carriage or other vehicle between the animals drawing it.
17.a projecting strip along the centre of the edge or end of a board, for fitting into a groove in another board.
18.a narrow strip of land extending into a body of water; cape.
19.a section of ice projecting outward from the submerged part of an iceberg.
20.Machinery. a long, narrow projection on a machine.
21.that part of a rail road switch that is shifted to direct the wheels of a locomotive or car to one or the other track of a rail road.
22.the pin of a buckle, brooch, etc.
–verb (used with object)
23.to articulate (tones played on a clarinet, trumpet, etc.) by strokes of the tongue.
24.Carpentry.
a.to cut a tongue on (a board).
b.to join or fit together by a tongue-and-groove joint.
25.to touch with the tongue.
26.to articulate or pronounce.
27.Archaic.
a.to reproach or scold.
b.to speak or utter.
–verb (used without object)
28.to tongue tones played on a clarinet, trumpet, etc.
29.to talk, especially idly or foolishly; chatter; prate.
30.to project like a tongue.



Kitty had heard of “langues de chat”
But when she was faced with reality,
She found some other cat had got her tongue.

Saturday 28 November 2009

Travesty

TRAVESTY

–noun
1. a literary or artistic burlesque of a serious work or subject, characterized by grotesque or ludicrous incongruity of style, treatment, or subject matter.
2. a literary or artistic composition so inferior in quality as to be merely a grotesque imitation of its model.
3. any grotesque or debased likeness or imitation.
–verb (used with object)
4. to make a travesty on; turn (a serious work or subject) to ridicule by burlesquing.
5. to imitate grotesquely or absurdly.






















Shadows
Shivering at the edge of darkness
Where night, reluctant, dresses as dawn
A light travesty.

Friday 27 November 2009

Anonymity

ANONYMITY

-noun
1. the state or quality of being anonymous.
2. an anonymous person























Drunk
Or
Tipsy
Anything
Could happen in gloom.
Tiptoeing at the edge of night,
Few shadows enjoy a moment's anonymity.

Thursday 26 November 2009

Stalk

STALK

–noun
1. the stem or main axis of a plant.
2. any slender supporting or connecting part of a plant, as the petiole of a leaf, the peduncle of a flower, or the funicle of an ovule.
3. a similar structural part of an animal.
4. a stem, shaft, or slender supporting part of anything.
5. Automotive. a slender lever, usually mounted on or near the steering wheel, that is used by the driver to control a signal or function

–verb (used without object)
1. to pursue or approach prey, quarry, etc., stealthily.
2. to walk with measured, stiff, or haughty strides.
3. to proceed in a steady, deliberate, or sinister manner.
4. Obsolete. to walk or go stealthily along.
–verb (used with object)
5. to pursue (game, a person, etc.) stealthily.
6. to proceed through (an area) in search of prey or quarry: to stalk the woods for game.
7. to proceed or spread through in a steady or sinister manner.
–noun
8. an act or course of stalking quarry, prey, or the like.
9. a slow, stiff stride or gait.



Sunshine creeping up the hill
Lighting up the grass,
Stalk after stalk after stalk.

Wednesday 25 November 2009

Avatar

AVATAR

-noun
1. Hindu Mythology. the descent of a deity to the earth in an incarnate form or some manifest shape; the incarnation of a god.
2. an embodiment or personification, as of a principle, attitude, or view of life.
3. Computers. a graphical image that represents a person, as on the Internet.



I could see
Into her eyes
Avatars of her dreamed life
Half mighty beast
Half kept woman
Each starving for
A caress or
A morsel.

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Funicular

FUNICULAR

–adj.
1. of or pertaining to a rope or cord, or its tension.
2. worked by a rope or the like.
–noun
3. Funicular railway





















Funicular actors
Treading a fine line
Outside their control

Monday 23 November 2009

Pandiculation

PANDICULATION

-noun

A stretching and stiffening especially of the trunk and extremities (as when fatigued and drowsy or after waking from sleep).



To cats,
Pandiculation
Comes naturally.
The result of healthy dreaming.

Sunday 22 November 2009

Macaroon

MACAROON

–noun
a drop cookie made of egg whites, sugar, usually almond paste or coconut, and sometimes a little flour.
A sweet made of two macaroon shells enclosing a cream filling.























Temptation so sweet:
A palette of macaroons
Singing with flavours.

Saturday 21 November 2009

Prisoner

PRISONER

–noun
1. A person held in custody, captivity, or a condition of forcible restraint, especially while on trial or serving a prison sentence.
2. One deprived of freedom of expression or action






















Prisoner of her own will
Either inside or out.
There is always some annoying
Door in the way.

Friday 20 November 2009

Untenable

UNTENABLE

-adj.
not able to be held, as of an opinion or position; un-holdable, indefensible



Untenable monsters,
Breaking off from their wooden bed
Ready to rampage.

Thursday 19 November 2009

Carapace

CARAPACE

-noun

1. The thick shell that covers the back of the turtle, the crab, and other animals.
2. Something likened to a shell that serves to protect or isolate from external influence.



Abandoned lone shoe
As discarded carapace.
Unnatural slough.

Wednesday 18 November 2009

Esculent

ESCULENT

-adj.
Edible
- noun
something edible; a comestible






















Esculent treasures
Hidden in the midst of leaves.
Autumn promises.

Tuesday 17 November 2009

Horse

HORSE

–noun
1. a large, solid-hoofed, herbivorous quadruped, Equus caballus, domesticated since prehistoric times, bred in a number of varieties, and used for carrying or pulling loads, for riding, and for racing.
2. a fully mature male animal of this type; stallion.
3. any of several odd-toed ungulates belonging to the family Equidae, including the horse, zebra, donkey, and ass, having a thick, flat coat with a narrow mane along the back of the neck and bearing the weight on only one functioning digit, the third, which is widened into a round or spade-shaped hoof.
4. something on which a person rides, sits, or exercises, as if astride the back of such an animal.
5. Also called trestle. a frame, block, etc., with legs, on which something is mounted or supported.
6. Gymnastics.
a. vaulting horse - a padded, somewhat cylindrical floor-supported apparatus, braced horizontally at an adjustable height, used for hand support and pushing off in vaulting.
b. a padded, somewhat cylindrical floor-supported apparatus, similar to pommel horse - a vaulting horse but having two graspable pommels on top, used by men for hand-supported balancing, rotating, and swinging manoeuvres.
7. Carpentry. an inclined beam, as a string, supporting the steps of a stair.
8. soldiers serving on horseback; cavalry.
9. Slang. a man; fellow.
10.Often, horses. Informal (horsepower)
a. a foot-pound-second unit of power, equivalent to 550 foot-pounds per second, or 745.7 watts.
b. Informal. the capacity to achieve or produce; strength or talent:
11.Horses, Slang. the power or capacity to accomplish something, as by having enough money, personnel, or expertise
12.Chess Informal. a knight.
13.Slang. a crib, translation, or other illicit aid to a student's recitation; trot; pony.
14.Mining. a mass of rock enclosed within a lode or vein.
15.Nautical. a rope, spar, or rod (also called traveller).
16.Shipbuilding. a mould of a curved frame, especially one used when the complexity of the curves requires laying out at full size.
17.Slang. Heroin
–verb (used with object)
18.to provide with a horse or horses.
19.to set on horseback.
20.to set or carry on a person's back or on one's own back.
21.Carpentry. to cut notches for steps into (a carriage beam).
22.to move with great physical effort or force: It took three men to horse the trunk up the stairs.
23.Slang.
a. to make (a person) the target of boisterous jokes.
b. to perform boisterously, as a part or a scene in a play.
24.Nautical.
a. to caulk (a vessel) with a hammer.
b. to work or haze (a sailor) cruelly or unfairly.
25.Archaic. to place (someone) on a person's back, in order to be flogged.
–verb (used without object)
26.to mount or go on a horse.
27.(of a mare) to be in heat.
28.Vulgar. to have coitus.
–adj.
29.of, for, or pertaining to a horse or horses.
30.drawn or powered by a horse or horses.
31.mounted or serving on horses: horse troops.
32.unusually large.



If joking humans can horse around,
Do boisterous horses human about when joking?

Monday 16 November 2009

Palette

PALETTE

–noun
1. a thin and usually oval or oblong board or tablet with a thumb hole at one end, used by painters for holding and mixing colours.
2. any other flat surface used by a painter for this purpose.
3. the set of colours on such a board or surface.
4. the range of colours used by a particular artist.
5. the variety of techniques or range of any art.
6. the complete range of colours made available by a computer graphics card, from which a user or program may choose those to be displayed.
7. (in ancient Egyptian art) a somewhat flattish slate object of various shapes, carved with commemorative scenes or motifs or, esp. in the smaller pieces, containing a recessed area probably for holding eye make-up and often used as a votive offering.
8. Also, pallette. Armour. a small plate defending the front of the armpit when the arm is lifted; gusset.




He dreamt of singing autumn's palette
Long enough to discover winter set in.

Sunday 15 November 2009

Blanch

BLANCH

–verb (used with object)

1. to whiten by removing colour; bleach.
2. Cookery.
a. to scald briefly and then drain, as peaches or almonds to facilitate removal of skins, or as rice or macaroni to separate the grains or strands.
b. to scald or parboil (meat or vegetables) so as to whiten, remove the odour, prepare for cooking by other means, etc.
3. Horticulture. (of the stems or leaves of plants, as celery or lettuce) to whiten or prevent from becoming green by excluding light.
4. Metallurgy.
a. to give a white lustre to (metals), as by means of acids.
b. to coat (sheet metal) with tin.
5. to make pale, as with sickness or fear.
–verb (used without object)
6. to become white; turn pale.

–verb (used with object)
1. to force back or to one side; head off, as a deer or other quarry.



A handful almonds
First scalded – blanched - and stripped.
Cake in the making.

Saturday 14 November 2009

Beggar

BEGGAR

–noun

1. a person who begs alms or lives by begging.
2. a penniless person.
3. a wretched fellow; rogue.
4. a person of a specified type.
–verb (used with object)
5. to reduce to utter poverty; impoverish.
6. to cause one's resources of or ability for (description, comparison, etc.) to seem poor or inadequate



Love,
That hungry beggar
Robbed me of my jewels:
Dream, Hope, and Sleep.

Sleeping beauty courtesy of George Eastman House

Friday 13 November 2009

Nihilarian

NIHILARIAN

-noun
One who does useless work.























His delight
As a devoted nihilarian
Was to write long memos
In transparent ink
Or corrector fluid.

Thursday 12 November 2009

Spectrum

SPECTRUM

-noun
• Physics The distribution of a characteristic of a physical system or phenomenon, especially:
a. The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, as by an incandescent body, arranged in order of wavelengths.
b. The distribution of atomic or subatomic particles in a system, as in a magnetically resolved molecular beam, arranged in order of masses.
c. A range of values of a quantity or set of related quantities.
d. A broad sequence or range of related qualities, ideas, or activities.
• A graphic or photographic representation of such a distribution.
a. A range of values of a quantity or set of related quantities.
b. A broad sequence or range of related qualities, ideas, or activities






















You disappear
A vision that once was reality
Leaving your smile behind
Sepulchral spectrum
As last mystery.