Monday 30 April 2012

Splendiferous

SPLENDIFEROUS

-adj.
splendid; magnificent; fine.


















A tale of fire and desire
Splendiferous burn running free
Deep under the skin
A kiss that never reaches
Quite
Yet sears all the same
Blood and ink flowing together
Pulsating
Dream tattoo.
 

Sunday 29 April 2012

Artichoke

ARTICHOKE

-noun
1. a tall, thistle-like composite plant, Cynara scolymus, native to the Mediterranean region, of which the numerous scale-like bracts and receptacle of the immature flower head are eaten as a vegetable.
2. the large, rounded, closed flower head itself.

 





















May looms
Artichokes migrate in droves
Towards cooler climates

Saturday 28 April 2012

Kitten

KITTEN

-noun
1. a young cat

-verb
2. (of cats) to give birth to (young)


















Wriggling kittens
Looking for  their mother
A mewling can of worms


 





Friday 27 April 2012

Kittle

KITTLE

-verb (used with object)
1. to tickle with the fingers; agitate or stir, as with a spoon.
2. to excite or rouse (a person), especially by flattery or strong words.
-adj.
3. ticklish; fidgety.
4. requiring skill or caution; precarious.























Kittle me with a spoon
How I tremble under that touch
My heart breaks
Over chocolate.

Thursday 26 April 2012

Procacity

PROCACITY

-noun
Forwardness; pertness; petulance.























There was a breach
An insult
Deep damage possibly
That caused this
Child’s procacity
To falter and wither
To corrupt into
Awkward adolescence
Withdrawal
Before acceptance could come
And nonchalant years
Return some type of shadow
A ghost
Of the old assurance.

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Percolate

PERCOLATE

—verb
1. to cause (a liquid) to pass through a fine mesh, porous substance, etc, or (of a liquid) to pass through a fine mesh, porous substance, etc; trickle.
2. to permeate; penetrate gradually
3. intr. informal  ( US ) to become active or lively
4. to make (coffee) or (of coffee) to be made in a percolator

—noun
5. a product of percolation






















We dance
Letting music dribble
Percolate through our brains
Our disjointed limbs
Until we are the music
Each note rattling our bones
Our very marrow
Twisting and pulsating
Galaxies
Demanding to be born.

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Irriguous

IRRIGUOUS

-adj.
1. Well-watered, as land.



















 I remember our childhood
Our shared worried dreams
And the last irriguous
Entangled sheets.
Our mothers’ relief
Whispers behind our back
While we ran after kites
Finally reassured
That we weren’t adopted
Or about to be abandoned.


Background picture courtesy of the National Library of Ireland 

Monday 23 April 2012

Groundswell

GROUNDSWELL

-noun
1. A surge of opinion or feeling about someone or something.
2. A broad deep swell of the ocean, caused by a distant storm or an earthquake.



















We rock
Taken up by a massive
Groundswell
Holding close
For support
Yet
Fallling.

Falling.

Sunday 22 April 2012

Legume

LEGUME

—noun 
1. the long dry dehiscent fruit produced by leguminous plants; a pod
2. any table vegetable of the family Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae ), especially beans or peas
3. any leguminous plant



















Shining green
New legumes
To celebrate spring

Saturday 21 April 2012

Discomfit

DISCOMFIT

-verb trans. 
1. To confuse or embarrass.
2. To thwart the plans of.














She protests
Discomfited by lack of comfit
And lack of confidence
As she's banned from the house.

Friday 20 April 2012

Doxy

DOXY

-noun 
1. opinion; doctrine.
2. religious views

-noun 
1. an immoral woman; prostitute.
2. Archaic . a mistress


















Their doxies
Sneer at doxies
(and the other way around, obviously)

Thursday 19 April 2012

Barmecide

BARMECIDE

—adj. 
lavish or plentiful in imagination only; illusory; sham














Sailing along the locks of sleep
Heavy cargoes of barmecide dreams
Waiting to surge forward.

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Anther

ANTHER

-noun 
 Botany . the pollen-bearing part of a stamen.














A bumblebee's day out hunting
Tracking anthers
Do they keep trophies?

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Synecdoche

SYNECDOCHE

-noun
Rhetoric . a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special.


















 You get upset
Accusing left and right
Bundling the world
In your angry synecdoche
Forgetting all measure
And ridicule

Monday 16 April 2012

Dehiscence

DEHISCENCE
[dih-his-uhns]

-noun
1. Biology . the release of materials by the splitting open of an organ or tissue.
2. Botany . the natural bursting open of capsules, fruits, anthers, etc., for the discharge of their contents.
3. Surgery . the bursting open of a surgically closed wound.






















 Waiting for rain
A whisper flying in
Clouds dehiscence

Sunday 15 April 2012

Pea

PEA

 —noun
1. the round, edible seed of a widely cultivated plant, Pisum sativum, of the legume family.
2. the plant itself.
3. the green, somewhat inflated pod of this plant.
4. any of various related or similar plants or their seed, as the chickpea.
5. something resembling a pea, especially in being small and round.  
-adj.
6. pertaining to, growing, containing, or cooked with peas.
7. small or small and round (usually used in combination).























Insignificant peas
We huddle together
For elusive warmth
Drying up slowly

Saturday 14 April 2012

Strew

STREW  

-verb (used with object)
1. to let fall in separate pieces or particles over a surface; scatter or sprinkle.
2. to cover or overspread (a surface, place, etc.) with something scattered or sprinkled.
3. to be scattered or sprinkled over (a surface).
4. to spread widely; disseminate























Distorted space
Cat strewn over a chair

Friday 13 April 2012

Flue

FLUE
-noun
1. a passage or duct for smoke in a chimney.
2. any duct or passage for air, gas, or the like.
3. a tube, especially a large one, in a fire-tube boiler.
4. Music .
a. flue pipe.
b. Also called windway . a narrow slit in the upper end of an organ pipe through which the air current is directed  

 -noun
loose downy matter; fluff.

-noun
a type of fishing net.
















You look at your life
Discarded hooks and flues
Discoloured hopes and whatnots
Wondering where it all went wrong
Still wanting to swim
Still wanting to fish
But
Your mermaid has lost interest
For the froth game

Thursday 12 April 2012

Whorl

WHORL

-noun
1. botany . a radial arrangement of three or more petals, stamens, leaves, etc, around a stem
2. zoology . a single turn in a spiral shell
3. one of the basic patterns of the human fingerprint, formed by several complete circular ridges one inside another
4. anything shaped like a coil

















It’s so hard
Watching you
As you try to fight
Your way out of
A whorl of despair
Life and joy slipping
From your clenched hands
Your desperate smile.

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Scale

SCALE

-noun
1. Zoology .
a. one of the thin, flat, horny plates forming the covering of certain animals, as snakes, lizards, and pangolins.
b. one of the hard, bony or dentinal plates, either flat or denticulate, forming the covering of certain other animals, as fishes.
2. any thin, plate-like piece, lamina, or flake that peels off from a surface, as from the skin.
3. Botany .
a. Also called bud scale. a rudimentary body, usually a specialized leaf and often covered with hair, wax, or resin, enclosing an immature leaf bud.
b. a thin, scarious or membranous part of a plant, as a bract of a catkin.
4. scale insect.
5. a coating or incrustation, as on the inside of a boiler, formed by the precipitation of salts from the water.
6. Often, scales. Metallurgy .
a. an oxide, especially an iron oxide, occurring in a scaly form on the surface of metal brought to a high temperature.
b. Also called mill scale. such scale formed on iron or steel during hot-rolling.
7. scales,
a. a cause of blindness or ignorance, as regarding the true nature of a person, situation, etc.
b. Bible . an unspecified affliction that caused Paul to become temporarily blind.
-verb (used with object)
8. to remove the scales or scale from.
9. to remove in scales or thin layers.
10.to cover with an incrustation or scale.
11.to skip, as a stone over water.
12.Dentistry . to remove (calculus) from the teeth with instruments.
-verb (used without object)
13.to come off in scales.
14.to shed scales.
15.to become coated with scale, as the inside of a boiler.

-noun
1. Often, scales. a balance or any of various other instruments or devices for weighing.
2. Also called scalepan. either of the pans or dishes of a balance.
3. Scales, Astronomy, Astrology . the constellation or sign of libra; Balance.
-verb (used with object)
4. to weigh in or as if in scales.
5. to have a weight of.

-noun

1. a succession or progression of steps or degrees; graduated series.
2. a series of marks laid down at determinate distances, as along a line, for purposes of measurement or computation.
3. a graduated line, as on a map, representing proportionate size.
4. a table of graduated rates, as of prices or wages.
5. a wage that conforms to such rates.
6. Also called union scale. a wage fixed by contract that is the minimum permitted to be paid to or accepted by a particular category of employed persons.
7. an instrument with graduated spaces, as for measuring.
8. the proportion that a representation of an object bears to the object itself.
9. the ratio of distances or sometimes of areas on a map to the corresponding values on the earth.
10.a certain relative or proportionate size or extent.
11.a standard of measurement or estimation; point of reference by which to gauge or rate.
12.Music . a succession of tones ascending or descending according to fixed intervals, especially such a series beginning on a particular note.
13.Education, Psychology . a graded series of tests or tasks for measuring intelligence, achievement, adjustment, etc.
14.Arithmetic . a system of numerical notation: the decimal scale.
15.anything by which one may ascend.
16.Obsolete .
a. a ladder.
b. a flight of stairs.
-verb (used with object)
17.to climb by or as if by a ladder; climb up or over.
18.to make according to scale.
19.to adjust in amount according to a fixed scale or proportion (often followed by "down" or "up").
20.to measure by or as if by a scale.
21.Lumbering .
a. to measure (logs).
b. to estimate the amount of (standing timber).
-verb (used without object)
22.to climb; ascend; mount.
23.to progress in a graduated series.




A forgotten tale
Snaking on sands
Most would see just scale
Ignore the desert tragedy
Printed so blatantly
In white on tan.

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Avulse

AVULSE

-verb trans.
To pull off or tear away.

















Avulsed years and pulp
Have scarred this wood
Yet it grows, still
Impervious to martyr.

Monday 9 April 2012

Ascribe

ASCRIBE  

-verb (used with object)
1. to credit or assign, as to a cause or source; attribute; impute.
2. to attribute or think of as belonging, as a quality or characteristic.

















Many miracles are ascribed to spring
BUT
We’ve forgotten
The one of its own recurrent existence

Sunday 8 April 2012

Quicken

QUICKEN  

-verb
1. to make or become faster; accelerate.
2. to impart to or receive vigour, enthusiasm, etc; stimulate or be stimulated.
3. to make or become alive; revive
4. a. (of an unborn fetus) to begin to show signs of life
    b. (of a pregnant woman) to reach the stage of pregnancy at which movements of the fetus can be felt

















A little yeast
To quicken the dough
A bread golem is born

Saturday 7 April 2012

Settle

SETTLE

-verb (used with object)
1. to appoint, fix, or resolve definitely and conclusively; agree upon (as time, price, or conditions).
2. to place in a desired state or in order.
3. to pay, as a bill.
4. to close (an account) by payment.
5. to migrate to and organize (an area, territory, etc.); colonize.
6. to cause to take up residence.
7. to furnish (a place) with inhabitants or settlers.
8. to quiet, calm, or bring to rest (the nerves, stomach, etc.).
9. to stop from annoying or opposing.
10.to conclude or resolve.
11.to make stable; place in a permanent position or on a permanent basis.
12.to cause (a liquid) to become clear by depositing dregs.
13.to cause (dregs, sediment, etc.) to sink or be deposited.
14.to cause to sink down gradually; make firm or compact.
15.to dispose of finally; close up.
16.Law .
a. to secure (property, title, etc.) on or to a person by formal or legal process.
b. to terminate (legal proceedings) by mutual consent of the parties.
-verb (used without object)
17.to decide, arrange, or agree (often followed by "on" or "upon").
18.to arrange matters in dispute; come to an agreement.
19.to pay a bill; make a financial arrangement (often followed by "up").
20.to take up residence in a new country or place.
21.to come to rest, as from flight.
22.to gather, collect, or become fixed in a particular place, direction, etc.
23.to become calm or composed (often followed by "down")
24.to come to rest (often followed by "down").
25.to sink down gradually; subside.
26.to become clear by the sinking of suspended particles, as a liquid.
27.to sink to the bottom, as sediment.
28.to become firm or compact, as the ground.
29.(of a female animal) to become pregnant; conceive.

-noun
a seat, for two or more people, usually made of wood with a high back and arms, and sometimes having a storage space in the boxlike seat

























In the dusty street,
They settle for company
And the rickety shelter
Of an unlikely settle.

Friday 6 April 2012

Daub

DAUB

-verb (used with object)
1. to cover or coat with soft, adhesive matter, as plaster or mud.
2. to spread (plaster, mud, etc.) on or over something.
3. to smear, soil, or defile.
4. to apply, as paint or colours, unskillfully.
-verb (used without object)
5. to daub something.
6. to paint unskillfully.
-noun
7 material, especially of an inferior kind, for daubing walls.
8. something daubed on.
9. an act of daubing.
10.a crude, inartistic painting.




Paris
Daubed over with street art
Where Love seems prominent
Love and protest
Poetry too.



Street art (not daub) by Fred le Chevalier

Thursday 5 April 2012

Slough

SLOUGH

—noun
1. a hollow filled with mud; bog
2. ( US ), ( Canadian )
a. (in the prairies) a large hole where water collects or the water in such a hole
b. (in the northwest) a sluggish side channel of a river
c. (on the Pacific coast) a marshy saltwater inlet
3. despair or degradation

—noun

1. any outer covering that is shed, such as the dead outer layer of the skin of a snake, the cellular debris in a wound, etc
2. bridge Also: sluff . a discarded card
—verb
3. ( often foll by "off") to shed (a skin, etc) or (of a skin, etc) to be shed
4. bridge Also: sluff to discard (a card or cards)



Set on accidental islands
Sheep often drown in sloughs
In the warmth of summer

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Wattle

WATTLE

-noun
1. Often, wattles . a number of rods or stakes interwoven with twigs or tree branches for making fences, walls, etc.
2. wattles, a number of poles laid on a roof to hold thatch.
3. (in Australia) any of various acacias whose shoots and branches were used by the early colonists for wattles, now valued especially for their bark, which is used in tanning.
4. a fleshy lobe or appendage hanging down from the throat or chin of certain birds, as the domestic chicken or turkey.
-verb (used with object)
5. to bind, wall, fence, etc., with wattle or wattles.
6. to roof or frame with or as if with wattles.
7. to form into a basketwork; interweave; interlace.
8. to make or construct by interweaving twigs or branches:
-adj.
9. built or roofed with wattle or wattles.




When words refuse to wattle
Baulking at stories and making sense
Poetry comes along to lend a helping verse
Free from sense and construction

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Tenet

TENET

—noun
a belief, opinion, or dogma




Tenets on the wall
Taunting passers by, passengers,
Urging them to move on
Rather than stop
And reflect.

Monday 2 April 2012

Vestigial

VESTIGIAL

—adj.
1. of, relating to, or being a vestige
2. (of certain organs or parts of organisms) having attained a simple structure and reduced size and function during the evolution of the species.

























Flapping in the wind
Trying to find lost wings
Vestigial dreams of branches
And sky soaring songs
Discarded paper.

Sunday 1 April 2012

Snout

SNOUT

-noun
 1. the part of an animal's head projecting forward and containing the nose and jaws; muzzle.
2. Entomology . an anterior prolongation of the head bearing the mouth parts, as in snout beetles.
3. anything that resembles or suggests an animal's snout in shape, function, etc.
4. a nozzle or spout. 5. a person's nose, especially when large or prominent.























Veal snout Crisp and juicy
Not the usual fare
Both of us
(the veal and I)
Surprised
Delighted.