Tirade

TIRADE

–noun
1. a prolonged outburst of bitter, outspoken denunciation.
2. a long, vehement speech.
3. a passage dealing with a single theme or idea, as in poetry






















Hers
Was a
Vehement
Tirade, that was clear:
We well recognized the anger
Even if the identity of its cause failed us.

Pertinacious

PERTINACIOUS

–adj.
1. holding tenaciously to a purpose, course of action, or opinion; resolute.
2. stubborn or obstinate.
3. extremely or objectionably persistent.



Pertinacious flirts
Chasing foreign tourists.
Mimosa in bloom.

Sedulous

SEDULOUS

-adj.
Involving great care, effort, and persistence.






















Sedulous courting
Might yet bring the stray around.
Or a food tribute.

Asperity

ASPERITY

-noun
Harshness or roughness.



Yes,
Her
Sullen
Look spoke with
Grim asperity
A frontal attack on my soul
Her words harsher still, soon reducing me to tatters.

No mercy - was obviously the creed, the policy.
So what could a poor devil do?
Looking for polish
To file shards?
I
Smiled.

Sanctity

SANCTITY

-noun
1. holiness, saintliness, or godliness.
2. sacred or hallowed character.
3. a sacred thing























I hear them talk,
Argue,
Viciously at times
About sanctity of marriage
As if it wasn’t in fact
Just a contract.

Archive image of Mozart's marriage contract.

Depart

DEPART

–verb (used without object)
1. to go away; leave.
2. to diverge or deviate (usually followed by “from”).
3. to pass away, as from life or existence; die.
–verb (used with object)
4. to go away from; leave.
–noun
5. Archaic. departure; death.






















She leaves memories
Love, hair and constant purring.
Departed sunshine.

Farewell, little Zoe.

Ineffable

INEFFABLE

–adj.
1. incapable of being expressed or described in words; inexpressible.
2. not to be spoken because of its sacredness; unutterable






















I whisper your name
Ineffable
For fear that sound
Might fissure your face
Revealing the sand
And loose gravel within.

Cracks lifted from a picture by Hazel Motes/Greg Scales

Cream

CREAM

–noun
1. the fatty part of milk, which rises to the surface when the liquid is allowed to stand unless homogenized.
2. a soft solid or thick liquid containing medicaments or other specific ingredients, applied externally for a prophylactic, therapeutic, or cosmetic purpose.
3. Usually, creams. a soft-centered confection of fondant or fudge coated with chocolate.
4. a purée or soup containing cream or milk.
5. the best part of anything.
6. a yellowish white; light tint of yellow or buff.
–verb (used without object)
7. to form cream.
8. to froth; foam.
9. Informal. to advance or favour only the wealthiest, most skilled or talented, etc., especially so as to reap the benefits oneself.
10.Also, cream one's jeans. Slang: Vulgar.
a. to have an orgasm, especially to ejaculate or experience glandular lubrication of the vagina.
b. to be overcome, as in rapturous admiration or delight.
–verb (used with object)
11.to work (butter and sugar, or the like) to a smooth, creamy mass.
12.to prepare (chicken, oysters, vegetables, etc.) with cream, milk, or a cream sauce.
13.to allow (milk) to form cream.
14.to skim (milk).
15.to separate as cream.
16.to take the cream or best part of.
17.to use a cosmetic cream on.
18.to add cream to (tea, coffee, etc.).
19.Slang.
a. to beat or damage severely; lambaste.
b. to defeat decisively.
c. to accomplish, especially to pass (a test or course), with great ease and success
–adj.
20.of the colour cream; cream-coloured.






















Lemon grass steam,
Silky coconut cream.
Kiss cold away!

Muse

MUSE

–verb (used without object)
1. to think or meditate in silence, as on some subject.
2. Archaic. to gaze meditatively or wonderingly.
–verb (used with object)
3. to meditate on.
4. to comment thoughtfully or ruminate upon.

–noun
1. Initial upper case - Classical Mythology.
a. any of a number of sister goddesses, originally given as Aoede (song), Melete (meditation), and Mneme (memory), but latterly and more commonly as the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who presided over various arts: Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato (lyric poetry), Euterpe (music), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (religious music), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), and Urania (astronomy); identified by the Romans with the Camenae.
b. any goddess presiding over a particular art.
2. (sometimes lowercase) the goddess or the power regarded as inspiring a poet, artist, thinker, or the like.
3. (lowercase) the genius or powers characteristic of a poet.



Once upon the time,

Love was about
Love (mostly) and honey (sometimes)
When not about
The birds and the bees.

Right now, though,
It looks more concerned with
Love (the immutable),
As well as goats and bees.

It could be that Love
Might soon be about
Love (the ineluctable)
Goat cheese and honey.

A fine dish
For the bitter-sweet minded.
Yet... Still,
One cannot help but muse.

Dank

DANK

–adj.
unpleasantly moist or humid; damp and, often, chilly



One dank evening,
Driven by despair
Or just temptation,
I took to drinking
Thinking perhaps,
Alike might chase alike
Liquids droughts
Doing away with dampness.
Now I am soaked
Inside out:
My toes and liver
Both wrinkled.

Squall

SQUALL

–noun
1. a sudden, violent gust of wind, often accompanied by rain, snow, or sleet.
2. a sudden disturbance or commotion.
–verb (used without object)
3. to blow as a squall.

–verb (used without object)
1. to cry or scream loudly and violently.
–verb (used with object)
2. to utter in a screaming tone.
–noun
3. the act or sound of squalling.






















The cactus shivered
Under the squall of snow
An innocent victim
Being yelled at.

Flail

FLAIL

–noun
1. an instrument for threshing grain, consisting of a staff or handle to one end of which is attached a freely swinging stick or bar.
2. a similar instrument used as a weapon of war.
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
3. to beat or swing with or as if with a flail.






















Hazardous progress
Bouts of desperate flailing
Packed molested snow

Vivid

VIVID

–adj.
1. strikingly bright or intense, as color, light, etc..
2. full of life; lively; animated.
3. presenting the appearance, freshness, spirit, etc., of life; realistic.
4. strong, distinct, or clearly perceptible.
5. forming distinct and striking mental images.




In my old notebook
Tired poems and accounts
Vie for attention,
Vivid picture calling cards
And the address of a Guy.

Tingle

TINGLE

–verb (used without object)
1. to have a sensation of slight prickles, stings, or tremors, as from cold, a sharp blow, excitement, etc..
2. to cause such a sensation.
–noun
3. a tingling sensation.
4. the tingling action of cold, a blow, excitement, etc.






















Lips tingling
Just a hint of red pepper
Music of spices.

Truffle

TRUFFLE

–noun
1. any of several subterranean, edible, ascomycetous fungi of the genus Tuber.
2. any of various similar fungi of other genera.
3. a candy made of soft chocolate, shaped into a ball and dusted with cocoa, or sometimes a three-layered cube of light and dark chocolate.






















Truffle slices
An extravagant garnish
Yet disappointing.

Poppy

POPPY

–noun
1. any plant of the genus Papaver, having showy, usually red flowers.
2. any of several related or similar plants, as the California poppy or the prickly poppy.
3. an extract, as opium, from such a plant.
4. an orange red colour resembling scarlet.
5. Architecture. Also poppyhead - a finial or other ornament, often richly carved, as the top of the upright end of a bench or pew.
6. an artificial flower resembling a poppy, especially one received as evidence of a contribution to a fund for disabled war veterans.
—Idiom
7. tall poppy, Australian. someone of pre-eminence or with a large income; important and powerful person.



She dreamt of poppies
For all the hearts won and saved

Rough
Colourful
Silky
Dreamy

Not knowing she was one
Already.

Badger

BADGER

–noun
1. any of various burrowing, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, as Taxidea taxus, of North America, and Meles meles, of Europe and Asia.
2. the fur of this mammal.
3. Australian.
a. a wombat.
b. any of several insectivorous and herbivorous marsupials of the family Peramelidae, of Australia and New Guinea; some endangered.
4. (initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of Wisconsin (the Badger State) (used as a nickname).
5. a swab-like device for cleaning excess mortar from the interiors of newly laid tile drains.
–verb (used with object)
6. to harass or urge persistently; pester; nag























Oh the fate,
The irony,
That should make this gentle creature's fur
A tool to badger his human enemy's pelt!

Than

THAN

–conjunction
1. (used, as after comparative adjectives and adverbs, to introduce the second member of an unequal comparison).
2. (used after some adverbs and adjectives expressing choice or diversity, such as other, otherwise, else, anywhere, or different, to introduce an alternative or denote a difference in kind, place, style, identity, etc.).
3. (used to introduce the rejected choice in expressions of preference)
4. except; other than.
5. when.
–preposition
6. in relation to; by comparison with (usually followed by a pronoun in the objective case)























“Get bigger than me first,
Then you might be allowed some demands.”

“I'd sooner ignore you than respond to this.
I'll just pretend I am made of resin and marble instead.”

Edge

EDGE

–noun
1. a line or border at which a surface terminates.
2. a brink or verge.
3. any of the narrow surfaces of a thin, flat object.
4. a line at which two surfaces of a solid object meet.
5. the thin, sharp side of the blade of a cutting instrument or weapon.
6. the sharpness proper to a blade.
7. sharpness or keenness of language, argument, tone of voice, appetite, desire, etc.
8. British Dialect. a hill or cliff.
9. an improved position; advantage.
10 Cards.
a. advantage, especially the advantage gained by being the age or eldest hand.
b. also: eldest hand - the player on the dealer's left.
11.Ice Skating. one of the two edges of a skate blade where the sides meet the bottom surface, made sharp by carving a groove on the bottom.
12.Skiing. one of the two edges on the bottom of a ski that is angled into a slope when making a turn.
–verb (used with object)
13.to put an edge on; sharpen.
14.to provide with an edge or border: to edge a terrace with shrubbery; to edge a skirt with lace.
15.to make or force (one's way) gradually by moving sideways.
16.Metalworking.
a. to turn (a piece to be rolled) onto its edge.
b. to roll (a piece set on edge).
c. to give (a piece) a desired width by passing between vertical rolls.
d. to rough (a piece being forged) so that the bulk is properly distributed for final forging.
–verb (used without object)
17.to move sideways.
18.to advance gradually or cautiously






















The grump
On the edge of the fridge
Dreaming of retribution.

Confine

CONFINE

-verb
1. to enclose within bounds; limit or restrict.
2. to shut or keep in; prevent from leaving a place because of imprisonment, illness, discipline, etc.
–noun
3. Usually, confines. a boundary or bound; limit; border; frontier.
4. Often, confines. region; territory.
5. Archaic. Confinement
6. Obsolete. a place of confinement; prison.






















To
Hide,
Confine,
Not smother:
Think cure, gardening.
Kept into the dark they should bloom,
While thoughts scattered about the world just fritter away.

Bucolic

BUCOLIC

-adj.
1. of or pertaining to shepherds; pastoral.
2. of, pertaining to, or suggesting an idyllic rural life.
–noun
3. a pastoral poem.
4. Archaic. a farmer; shepherd; rustic.




The mind...
Loves toying with the bucolic,
Chewing words over and over,
Results often mere cow pies.

Indurate

INDURATE

–verb (used with object)
1. to make hard; harden, as rock, tissue, etc.:.
2. to make callous, stubborn, or unfeeling.
3. to inure; accustom.
4. to make enduring; confirm; establish.
–verb (used without object)
5. to become hard; harden.
6. to become established or confirmed.
–adj.
7. hardened; unfeeling; callous; inured.




Indurate love
Gone callous,
Creviced hands and lips
Harsh, splinter-prone, words.

Where has the transient gentleness gone
In all these rock hard certitudes?

Over-grown love
Gone to seed
Tall and stringy,
Nasty weed.

What has become of the tender bud
In this obstinate garden infestation?

Patina

PATINA

–noun
1. a film or incrustation, usually green, produced by oxidation on the surface of old bronze and often esteemed as being of ornamental value.
2. a similar film or colouring appearing gradually on some other substance.
3. a surface calcification of implements, usually indicating great age.






















Verdigris
Patina of your dreams
Toxic and inebriating
Like recovered treasures

Bank

BANK

–noun
1. a long pile or heap; mass: a bank of earth; a bank of clouds.
2. a slope or acclivity.
3. Physical Geography. the slope immediately bordering a stream course along which the water normally runs.
4. a broad elevation of the sea floor around which the water is relatively shallow but not a hazard to surface navigation.
5. Coal Mining. the surface around the mouth of a shaft.
6. Also called cant, superelevation. the inclination of the bed of a banked road or railroad.
7. Aeronautics. the lateral inclination of an aircraft, esp. during a turn.
8. Billiards, Pool. the cushion of the table.
–verb (used with object)
9. to border with or like a bank; embank.
10.to form into a bank or heap (usually followed by "up").
11.to build (a road or railroad track) with an upward slope from the inner edge to the outer edge at a curve.
12.Aeronautics. to tip or incline (an air plane) laterally.
13.Billiards, Pool.
a. to drive (a ball) to the cushion.
b. to pocket (the object ball) by driving it against the bank.
14.to cover (a fire) with ashes or fuel to make it burn long and slowly.
–verb (used without object)
15.to build up in or form banks, as clouds or snow.
16.Aeronautics. to tip or incline an airplane laterally.
17.Horology. (of a lever or balance) to be halted at either end of its oscillation by striking a pin or the like.
18.(of a road or railroad track) to slope upward from the inner edge to the outer edge at a curve.

–noun
1. an institution for receiving, lending, exchanging, and safeguarding money and, in some cases, issuing notes and transacting other financial business.
2. the office or quarters of such an institution.
3. Games.
a. the stock or fund of pieces from which the players draw.
b. the fund of the manager or the dealer.
4. a special storage place.
5. a store or reserve.
6. Obsolete.
a. a sum of money, esp. as a fund for use in business.
b. a money changer's table, counter, or shop.
–verb (used without object)
7. to keep money in or have an account with a bank.
8. to exercise the functions of a bank or banker.
9. Games. to hold the bank.
–verb (used with object)
10.to deposit in a bank

–noun
1. an arrangement of objects in a line or in tiers.
2. Music. a row of keys on an organ.
3. a row of elevator cars, as in a hotel or high-rise office building.
4. a bench for rowers in a galley.
5. a row or tier of oars.
6. the group of rowers occupying one bench or rowing one oar.
7. Printing.
a. (formerly) a bench on which sheets are placed as printed.
b. Also called, especially British, random. the sloping work surface at the top of a compositor's workbench.
c. a table or rack on which type material is stored before being made up in forms.
8. Also called deck. Journalism. a part of a headline containing one or more lines of type, especially a part that appears below the main part.
9. Electricity. a number of similar devices connected to act together: a bank of transformers; a bank of resistors.
–verb (used with object)
10.to arrange in a bank






















Banked seats
Waiting for callers.
Spring drizzle.

Furtive

FURTIVE

–adj.
1. taken, done, used, etc., surreptitiously or by stealth; secret.
2. sly; shifty























Time
That furtive thief
Took away colours
From your cheeks
Fading to sepia.

Lambent

LAMBENT

-adj.
1. Playing lightly on or over a surface; flickering
2. Softly bright or radiant; luminous;
3. Light and brilliant























Lambent marble
Hardly containing the light within
The ecstasy that burns the flesh
And sears the soul.

Quantum

QUANTUM

-noun
1. quantity or amount.
2. a particular amount.
3. a share or portion.
4. a large quantity; bulk.
5. Physics.
a. the smallest quantity of radiant energy, equal to Planck's constant times the frequency of the associated radiation.
b. the fundamental unit of a quantized physical magnitude, as angular momentum.
–adj.
6. sudden and significant























Reflections from a dirty mirror
Telling rouged and bejewelled lies
Without a quantum of shame.

Plethora

PLETHORA

-noun
1. overabundance; excess
2. Pathology Archaic. a morbid condition due to excess of red corpuscles in the blood or increase in the quantity of blood.




























A plethora of memories clogs my veins
The weight of those ghosts pulling me down
Is this age?

Prude

PRUDE

-noun
A person who is overly concerned with propriety or decorum.



One could consider
Exposing cats as prudes.
Or maybe not.

Gloat

GLOAT

–verb (used without object)
1. to look at or think about with great or excessive, often smug or malicious, satisfaction.
–noun
2. an act or feeling of gloating.






















That feeling:
Paper in my hand
Far more to gloat over
Than digital words.

Incipient

INCIPIENT

–adj.
beginning to exist or appear; in an initial stage




Incipient year,
Bursting at the seams,
Eager to go on
And bloom

Happy Budding New Year!