Cabal

CABAL

noun
A secret group involved in plots and intrigues, usually aimed at the overthrow of a power structure.



A secret cabal was woven around his name,
Involving furry foes and world domination
(no less)
All he ever wanted was a cuddle.

Withhold

WITHHOLD

verb
1.To keep (a physical object that one has obtained) to oneself rather than giving back to its owner.
2.To keep (information, etc.) to oneself rather than revealing.
3.To retain or keep back; not to grant.



I’d like to withhold the idea of life
Like a tulip on canvas
Rather than die in a vase
With tortured poses
Too elegant to be healthy.

Purr

PURR

verb
1. intr.
a. Of a cat or another feline animal: to make a low, continuous, vibratory sound taken to be expressive of satisfaction or pleasure.
b. Of a non-feline animal: to utter a sound resembling a cat's purr.

2. intr. In extended use.
a. Of a thing: to make a sound resembling a cat's purr, as that caused by rapid vibrations, boiling or bubbling liquid, the working of an engine, etc.
b. Of a person: to express chiefly pleasure or satisfaction by low, murmuring sounds; to speak in a low, soft voice, esp. seductively. Also: to behave in a self-satisfied or seductive manner.

3. trans.
To utter or express by purring; to say in a low, soft voice.






















I knew my dieting days were over
When I started to notice
Wicked chocolate bonbons purring at me.

Stymie

STYMIE

(verb)
To present an obstacle to; stand in the way of



He had planned all sorts of wonderful things
For later in his life
But they got all stymied by a premature death.

Avenue

AVENUE

(noun)
1 : a way or route to a place or goal : path
2 : a usually wide street






















Come and feel the army of ghosts
Strolling down that paved avenue
As well as the path of time
Feel their presence in the stones
And the rays of light.

abreact

ABREACT

transitive verb
To release tension by recalling a trauma; to release unconscious psychological tension by talking about or reliving the events that caused it



Lizzy tried to abreact her past heartaches
By pouring its details in the ears of her friends,
Unconscious of recreating the very circumstances
That had brought in the crisis.

Nuncupative

NUNCUPATIVE

adj
1.Oral; not written.
2.(obsolete) Publicly or solemnly declaratory.
3.(obsolete) Nominal; existing only in name.



We lost ourselves in nuncupative evenings
Dissembling and recreating the world anew
With each fiery debate.

Sapient

SAPIENT

—adj.
having or showing great wisdom or sound judgment.























Those old stones,
Sapient for the years
Spent crying.

Toothsome

TOOTHSOME

—adj.
1. pleasing to the taste; palatable
2. pleasing or desirable, as fame or power.
3. voluptuous; sexually alluring



Tea and a toothsome snack
Was an alluring promise
Virtues have been sold for less.

Peremptory

PEREMPTORY

—adj.
1. leaving no opportunity for denial or refusal; imperative: a peremptory command.
2. imperious or dictatorial.
3. positive or assertive in speech, tone, manner, etc.
4. Law.
a. that precludes or does not admit of debate, question, etc.: a peremptory edict.
b. decisive or final.
c. in which a command is absolute and unconditional: a peremptory writ.
























The peremptory notes
Left at his feet
Were dressed as prayers
But left him with his arms
Full.

Pervade

PERVADE

verb
to become spread throughout all parts of: “Spring pervaded the air”.



The memory pervaded his body
Being a child again
Through magic in his cup
And a small madeleine.

Muster

MUSTER

verb
1.To collect and display; to assemble.
2.To summon together; to enroll in service; to get together.






















Seeds
Mustered in a box
Smelling of inexistant places.
A land called
Bitterness.

Infuse

INFUSE

verb
1 : to put in as if by pouring
2 : to steep without boiling



She thought that sleeping on books
Might infuse her mind with knowledge
But soon found that
Her body was erudition repellent

Blandish

BLANDISH

Verb
to coax or persuade with flattery






















Blandish away, fiery eyes,
Draw your snares and strike
Straight through the heart!

Original "eyes" picture by Didier Badoc

Suffice

SUFFICE

verb
To be enough or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed.



Broken dreams ought to suffice,
he said.
Making new wings for
More unfortunate creatures.

Rhythm

RHYTHM

noun
1 : a flow of rising and falling sounds in language that is produced in verse by a regular repeating of stressed and unstressed syllables
2 : a flow of sound in music having regular accented beats
3 : a particular or typical pattern of rhythm
4 : a movement or action in which some action repeats regularly



Infatuation
Was the name of the tango
Our souls were dancing in the night.
Lashes to lashes, heart to heart,
Hesitation,
Flirtation,
Another bewitching temptation.
It is but a game,
A mortal one too:
Dear Soul, you poison me so,
And my heart aches to the rhythm
Of that tango.

Panglossian

PANGLOSSIAN

–adjective
Characterized by or given to extreme optimism, esp. in the face of unrelieved hardship or adversity.



In a panglossian moment
I had cast all caution to the winds.
It came back in gales.

Termagant

TERMAGANT


–noun
1. a violent, turbulent, or brawling woman.
2. a mythical deity popularly believed in the Middle Ages to be worshiped by the Muslims and introduced into the morality play as a violent, overbearing personage in long robes.
–adjective
3. violent; turbulent; brawling; shrewish.






















He tamed the termagant and made her a wife instead.
Their love was tumultuous.
And sweet in the way of all short-lived things.

Mallemaroking

MALLEMAROKING

noun
The carousing of seamen on board Greenland whaling ships.




The permafrost that captured our relationship
Left me little taste for mallemaroking.

Defenestrate

DEFENESTRATE

verb
throw through or out of the window




On Tuesdays
We'd defenestrate our hopes
To see if they'd come flying back
On new found wings.

Scrimshank

SCRIMSHANK

verb
- to avoid one's obligations or share of work; shirk.






















In her daily attempt at scrimshank
She would count the papers
Fighting over her office space
Sorting them by colours
Instead of by urgency.

Some uncredited stock photography used...

Maudlin

MAUDLIN

(adj.)
1 : drunk enough to be emotionally silly
2 : weakly and effusively sentimental























Maudlin chirp choirs
Floating well above the vines.
A sure autumn sign.

Glom

GLOM

verb
1 : take, steal
2 : seize, catch



In the gloom,
Someone glommed
All the daisies.
Could it be Winter?

Fetish

FETISH

noun
1. Something nonsexual which arouses sexual desire.
2. Something which is believed to possess, contain, or cause spiritual or magical powers.
3. An irrational, or abnormal, fixation or preoccupation.






















Looking up at the cathedral’s spires
I’d never thought of calling it a fetish before…
Silly me.

Piquant

PIQUANT

adj.
1 : agreeably stimulating to the taste; especially : spicy
2 : pleasingly exciting






















She was a beauty
Full of piquant
A mythological beast
To be tamed with songs.

Imprint

IMPRINT

Verb
To leave a print, impression, image, etc.



An imprint
Inside my eyelids:
Beauty beyond sight
Or cognizance
A hill of wild thyme and mint
Shaken by breeze

Reflet

REFLET

noun
Lustre or iridescence, especially on ceramics.



With the reflet of our love
For only colour
We forgot darkness
Forsook light.
Life in our cavern far more beauteous
Than any reality.

Nemesis

NEMESIS

—n.,
—pl. -ses
1. something that a person cannot conquer, achieve, etc.
2. an opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.
3. (cap.) Class. Myth.the goddess of divine retribution.
4. an agent or act of retribution or punishment.



After years of eating chocolates
I kept expecting
A tawdry Nemesis
To rob me of my figure.

Dally

DALLY

verb
1.To waste time in voluptuous pleasures, or in idleness; to trifle.
2.To interchange caresses, especially of a sexual nature.
3.To delay unnecessarily; to while away.






















To dally incessantly
Never bringing tasks to an end
Waves lapping on a shore.

Plumose

PLUMOSE

adj.
1. having feathers or plumes; feathered.
2. feathery or plumelike.



Plumose winter
Writes wiftly poems
On my window

Querulous

QUERULOUS

Adjective
Whiny, grumbling, continually complaining about everything






















I worshipped a querulous sky
That forced us in
To cuddle
Around a warm cup of tea.