Wednesday 31 January 2018

Weir

WEIR

-noun
1. a low dam that is built across a river to raise the water level, divert the water, or control its flow
2. a series of traps or enclosures placed in a stream to catch fish



















Before we smash all the dreams
Let’s bury the sweet sea in the salt of our tears
Recreate floes with our frozen hearts

When you reply to this vision,
Its secrets will percolate into a weir
Don't tell anyone.


Tuesday 30 January 2018

Gelid

GELID

-adj.
very cold, icy, or frosty

























Don't go to the sea.
Move out of your hands
Bury your travels
Bury your gelidest thoughts
The sea will keep you
Hide your secrets
Smash all the cameras

Don't go.

Monday 29 January 2018

Flourish

FLOURISH

-verb
1. (intr.) to thrive; prosper
2. (intr.) to be at the peak of condition
3. (intr.) to be healthy
4. to wave or cause to wave in the air with sweeping strokes
5. to display or make a display
6. to play (a fanfare, etc.) on a musical instrument
7. (intr.) to embellish writing, characters, etc. , with ornamental strokes
8. to add decorations or embellishments to (speech or writing)
9. (intr.) an obsolete word for blossom
-noun
10. the act of waving or brandishing
11. a showy gesture
12. an ornamental embellishment in writing
13. a display of ornamental language or speech
14. a grandiose passage of music
15. an ostentatious display or parade
16. (obsolete)
a. the state of flourishing
b. the state of flowering

























Flourishing nature
Oblivious to ice months
And dangers hidden

In the wings of winds

Sunday 28 January 2018

Stew

STEW

-noun
1. a dish of meat, fish, or other food, cooked by stewing
2. (informal) a difficult or worrying situation or a troubled state
3. a heterogeneous mixture
4. (usually plural) (archaic) . a brothel
5. (obsolete) a public room for hot steam baths
-verb
6. to cook or cause to cook by long slow simmering
7. (intr.) (informal) to be troubled or agitated
8. (intr.) (informal) to be oppressed with heat or crowding
9. to cause (tea) to become bitter or (of tea) to become bitter through infusing for too long

-noun
1. (British) . a fishpond or fishtank
2. (British) . an artificial oyster bed

























Winter love
Of a hearty stew
Sun-filled spices
And hints from

Exotic lands

Saturday 27 January 2018

Fetch

FETCH

-verb (mainly trans)
1. to go after and bring back; get
2. to cause to come; bring or draw forth
3. (also intr) . to cost or sell for (a certain price)
4. to utter (a sigh, groan, etc.)
5. (informal) to deal (a blow, slap, etc)
6. (also intr) (nautical) . to arrive at or proceed by sailing
7. (informal) . to attract
8. (often when used as a command to dogs) to retrieve (shot game, an object thrown, etc)
9. (rare) to draw in (a breath, gasp, etc), in particular if with difficulty
-noun
10. the reach, stretch, etc, of a mechanism
11. a trick or stratagem
12. the distance in the direction of the prevailing wind that air or water can travel continuously without obstruction

-noun
1. the ghost or apparition of a living person


















Let
Me
Caress
Lay my hand
Upon your shadow
As your fetch slowly disappears
While my mind and heart
Still hear your
Soft purrs
Now

Gone

Friday 26 January 2018

Hedgerow

HEDGEROW

-noun
a hedge of shrubs or low trees growing along a bank, in particular one bordering a field or lane

























A land of chaotic and
Manicured hedgerows
Opening to alternative realities
Where hide the ghosts

Of old gone glory

Thursday 25 January 2018

Drover

DROVER

-noun
a person whose occupation is the driving of sheep or cattle, in particular to and from market

























Night is the drover
A slaughter of vaporous lambs
Over the horizon

Washed away by tender winds

Wednesday 24 January 2018

Swathe

SWATHE

-verb (trans.)
1. to bandage (a wound, limb, etc.), completely
2. to wrap a band, garment, etc., around, so as to cover completely; swaddle
3. to envelop
-noun
4. a bandage or wrapping (also spelled swath)




















Teasing
Imperfect swathes
Unlikely to be of any use

Except for perfection



Tuesday 23 January 2018

Eclogue

ECLOGUE

-noun
a pastoral or idyllic poem, usually in the form of a conversation or soliloquy

























Morning walk
Jumping through puddles
Liquid eclogues bubbling in your head
Sometimes spilling out

As you pretend to be on the phone

Monday 22 January 2018

Commonplace

COMMONPLACE

-adj.
1. ordinary; everyday
2. dull and obvious; trite
-noun
3. something dull and trite, in particular a remark; platitude; truism
4. a passage in a book marked for inclusion in a commonplace book (i.e. a notebook in which quotations, poems, remarks, etc., that catch the owner's attention are entered)
5. an ordinary or common thing

























A commonplace portrait

In an uncommon place

Sunday 21 January 2018

Mill

MILL

-noun
1. a building in which grain is crushed and ground to make flour
2. a factory, in particular one which processes raw materials
3. any of various processing or manufacturing machines, in particular one that grinds, presses, or rolls
4. any of various small hand mills used for grinding pepper, salt, or coffee for domestic purposes
5. a hard roller for impressing a design, in particular in a textile-printing machine or in a machine for printing banknotes
6. a system, institution, etc., that influences people or things in the manner of a factory
7. an unpleasant experience; ordeal
8. a fist fight
-verb
9. (trans.) to grind, press, or pulverize in or as if in a mill
10. (trans.) to process or produce in or with a mill
11. to cut or roll (metal) with or as if with a milling machine
12. (trans.) to groove or flute the edge of (a coin)
13. (intr.; often followed by “about” or “around”) to move about in a confused manner
14. (usually trans.) (rare) to beat (chocolate, etc)
15. (archaic, slang) to fight


-noun
a US and Canadian monetary unit used in calculations, in particular for property taxes, equal to one thousandth of a dollar





















Meet
My nutmeg mill,
Favourite kitchen gadget

Of my often-grated finger tips.


Saturday 20 January 2018

Quare

QUARE

-adj.
1. (Irish dialect) remarkable or strange
2. (Irish dialect) great or good
-adv.
3. (Irish dialect) very; remarkably















He was a quare kitty alright,
Lover of green beans
And a good fight.

Aloof and silly,
Another black star.

Friday 19 January 2018

Curt

CURT

-adj.
1. rudely blunt and brief; abrupt
2. short or concise

























Mercury is annoyed
On the brink of curt
Even in his gestures

Roman-sport woes

Thursday 18 January 2018

Gormless

GORMLESS
  
-adj.
(British) (informal) . stupid; dull

























It seems an excess of work
Can drive anyone gormless
And a faucet has been left open

On the bad-dream reservoir

Wednesday 17 January 2018

Drear

DREAR

-adj.
(literary) miserable, dreary





















One more silly cat gone
And all turns drear anew

Ghosts at my window

Tuesday 16 January 2018

Eventuate

EVENTUATE

-verb (intr.)
1. (often followed by “in”) to result ultimately (in)
2. to come about as a result

























Loss of Microbo

Eventuates in broken hearts

Monday 15 January 2018

Beyond

BEYOND

-preposition
1. at or to a point on the other side of; at or to the further side of
2. outside the limits or scope of
-adv.
3. at or to the other or far side of something
4. outside the limits of something

















Boys will be boys
Beyond the pale
God or not

Flesh turn to marble

Sunday 14 January 2018

Pith

PITH

-noun
1. the soft fibrous tissue lining the inside of the rind in fruits such as the orange and grapefruit
2. the essential or important part, point, etc.
3. weight; substance
4. the central core of unspecialized cells surrounded by conducting tissue in stems
5. the soft central part of a bone, feather, etc.
-verb (trans.)
6. to destroy the brain and spinal cord of (a laboratory animal) by piercing or severing
7. to kill (animals) by severing the spinal cord
8. to remove the pith from (a plant)
























Bitterness
Pit against winter
Pith-rich sunshine
Fighting a cold


Saturday 13 January 2018

Sovereign

SOVEREIGN

-noun
1. a person exercising supreme authority, in particular a monarch
2. a former British gold coin worth one pound sterling
-adj.
3. supreme in rank or authority
4. excellent or outstanding
5. of, relating to, or characteristic of a sovereign
6. independent of outside authority

























He goes our sovereign

So mighty and fragile

Friday 12 January 2018

Mediciner

MEDICINER

-noun
(archaic) a physician

























Enchanted air,
Magic potions and
Mediciner grace

Will not save him

Thursday 11 January 2018

Instead

INSTEAD

-adv.
1. as a replacement, substitute, or alternative (in stead of…)

























Just two classic
Fornasetti Lina plates
On the black canvas
Of a third one
But sixty years later
We see two women

In hijab instead

Wednesday 10 January 2018

Perplex

PERPLEX

-verb (trans.)
1. to puzzle; bewilder; confuse
2. to complicate

























A mixed metal salad
Of flummoxed indications

To perplex the odd tourist

Tuesday 9 January 2018

Stead

STEAD

-noun
1. (preceded by “in”) (rare) . the place, function, or position that should be taken by another
-verb
2. (trans.) (archaic) to help or benefit


















It could have been you
But he killed her in your stead
So that he could decorate your shield

With the blood of his lust

Monday 8 January 2018

Nocturnal

NOCTURNAL

-adj.
1. of, used during, occurring in, or relating to the night
2. (of animals) active at night
3. (of plants) having flowers that open at night and close by day
















A nocturnal winter
Fuelled by wine and friendship
A blurry moon (or two)

Veiling its face to better laugh



Sunday 7 January 2018

Langouste

LANGOUSTE

-noun

another name for the spiny lobster

























Amazing
Langouste
How sweet
The taste

Saturday 6 January 2018

Celebrant

CELEBRANT

-noun
1. a person participating in a religious ceremony

2. (Christianity) . an officiating priest, especially at the Eucharist

























Microbo
Had no intention
To be the celebrant
In our bacchanals















Friday 5 January 2018

Freshet

FRESHET

-noun
1. the sudden overflowing of a river caused by heavy rain or melting snow
2. a stream of fresh water emptying into the sea

























Wine flowed
A tormented freshet
Carrying olives
And pineapple
In its rush

To my lips

Thursday 4 January 2018

Cuff

CUFF

-noun
1. the part of a sleeve nearest the hand, sometimes turned back and decorative
2. the part of a gauntlet or glove that extends past the wrist
3. (US, Canadian, and Australian) the turned-up fold at the bottom of some trouser legs

-verb
1. (trans.) to strike with an open hand
- noun
2. a blow of this kind

























For being
Too naughty
He was cuffed
Yet snivelled

All the more.

Wednesday 3 January 2018

Fiat

FIAT

-noun
1. official sanction; authoritative permission
2. an arbitrary order or decree

3. (mostly literary) . any command, decision, or act of will that brings something about

























All hierarchs are doomed
The importance of their fiat
Mired in birds’ droppings

Tuesday 2 January 2018

Nonesuch

NONESUCH

-noun
1. (archaic) a matchless person or thing; nonpareil
2.  another name for black medick (a small European leguminous plant, Medicago lupulina, with trifoliate leaves, small yellow flowers, and black pods)
















She was thus
Nonesuch the mystery
Bewitching and cursed
A legend turned bush
By love and lust


From Bougereau 

Monday 1 January 2018

Fresh

FRESH

-adj.
1. not stale or deteriorated; newly made, harvested, etc
2. newly acquired, created, found, etc
3. novel; original
4. latest; most recent
5. further; additional; more
6. not canned, frozen, or otherwise preserved
7. (of water) not salt
8. bright or clear
9. chilly or invigorating
10. not tired; alert; refreshed
11. not worn or faded
12. having a healthy or ruddy appearance
13. newly or just arrived; straight
14. youthful or inexperienced
15. (mainly US) designating a female farm animal, in particular a cow, that has recently given birth
16. (informal) presumptuous or disrespectful; forward
17. (Northern England dialect) partially intoxicated; tipsy
-noun
18. the fresh part or time of something
19.  another name for freshet
-verb
20. (obsolete) to make or become fresh; freshen
-adv.
21. in a fresh manner; freshly








We
Start
Again
Fresh anew
In a cloudy dawn
Trusting in
A new
Sun
Day