Halloween

HALLOWEEN

-noun
October 31, celebrated in the United States, Canada, and the British Isles by children going door to door while wearing costumes and begging treats and playing pranks.



A viral presence,
Halloween creeps in, with glee.
Chocolate pumpkins.

Bliss

BLISS

–noun
1. supreme happiness; utter joy or contentment.
2. Theology. the joy of heaven.
3. heaven; paradise.
4. Archaic. a cause of great joy or happiness.






















Bliss.
Bliss,
My Love,
Gives me wings,
Robs me of my breath.
And this is how I lost my shoes.

Rain

RAIN

–noun
1. water that is condensed from the aqueous vapour in the atmosphere and falls to earth in drops more than 1/50 in. (0.5 mm) in diameter.
2. a rainfall, rainstorm, or shower.
3. Rains - the rainy season; seasonal rainfall, as in India.
4. weather marked by steady or frequent rainfall.
5. a heavy and continuous descent or inflicting of anything.
–verb (used without object)
6. (of rain) to fall (usually used impersonally with it as subject).
7. to fall like rain.
8. to send down rain.
–verb (used with object)
9. to send down in great quantities, as small pieces or objects.
10.to offer, bestow, or give in great quantity.
11.to deal, hurl, fire, etc., repeatedly



Rain, sweet promises
Kissing the earth with dear life.
Take an umbrella.

Love

LOVE

–noun
1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.
3. sexual passion or desire.
4. a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.
5. (used in direct address) a term of endearment, affection, or the like
6. a love affair; an intensely amorous incident; amour.
7. sexual intercourse; copulation.
8. (initial capital letter ) a personification of sexual affection, as Eros or Cupid.
9. affectionate concern for the well-being of others.
10.strong predilection, enthusiasm, or liking for anything.
11.the object or thing so liked.
12.Chiefly Tennis. a score of zero; nothing.
13.a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter L.
–verb (used with object)
14.to have love or affection for.
15.to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for (another person).
16.to have a strong liking for; take great pleasure in.
17.to need or require; benefit greatly from.
18.to embrace and kiss (someone), as a lover.
19.to have sexual intercourse with.
–verb (used without object)
20.to have love or affection for another person; be in love.






















You smiled
That was the problem:
Love was to strong
That it lifted my heart right out
And I clung for dear life
As it started to float away.
Now I watch you from afar.
Such a love trip!

Olive

OLIVE

–noun
1. an evergreen tree, Olea europaea, of Mediterranean and other warm regions, cultivated chiefly for its fruit.
2. the fruit of this tree, a small oval drupe, eaten as a relish and used as a source of oil.
3. Also called olive wood. the wood of this tree, valued for ornamental work.
4. the foliage of this tree.
5. a wreath of it.
6. any of various related or similar trees.
7. the ochre green or dull yellow green of the unripe olive fruit.
–adj.
9. of, pertaining to, or made of olives, their foliage, or their fruit.
10.of the colour olive.
11.tinged with this colour






















Olive, ô olive
Why aren’t you olive colour?
Confused blushing trees.

Limn

LIMN

-verb
Literary. depict or describe in painting or words.



Limning words,
Day after day
For better and for worse
Looking for gems.

Elusive

ELUSIVE

–adj.
1. eluding clear perception or complete mental grasp; hard to express or define.
2. cleverly or skilfully evasive



Elusive story
Refusing to come to light
Taunting my pen and white page.

Fuscous

FUSCOUS

-adj.
Of a brownish-gray colour; dusky.



Fuscous wood
Fading wood
Hard driven by weather
Washing away colours
Washing away the years
Pushing at memories
Inserting them in the wood
Foggy patina.

Presence

PRESENCE

–noun
1. the state or fact of being present, as with others or in a place.
2. attendance or company..
3. immediate vicinity; proximity.
4. the military or economic power of a country as reflected abroad by the stationing of its troops, sale of its goods, etc..
5. Chiefly British. the immediate personal vicinity of a great personage giving audience or reception.
6. the ability to project a sense of ease, poise, or self-assurance, esp. the quality or manner of a person's bearing before an audience.
7. personal appearance or bearing, especially of a dignified or imposing kind.
8. a person, especially of noteworthy appearance or compelling personality.
9. a divine or supernatural spirit felt to be present.
10.British. Obsolete. presence chamber: the special room in which a great personage, as a sovereign, receives guests, holds audiences, etc..



The audience
Appreciated
His presence.
The feeling was – most likely - reciprocal.


Jason Webley

Simulacrum

SIMULACRUM

-noun
1: image, representation
2: an insubstantial form or semblance of something: shadow; also: trace



Fog returns a simulacrum of life
A smothered semblance of truth
Where sounds are strangled
And heartbeats quickened.

Imbricate

IMBRICATE

-verb
1. Lying lapped over each other in regular order
2. Overlap



Time
Imbricates mosses
On the tiles
On our skin
On the earth
On our souls.

Tenter

TENTER

–noun
1. a framework on which cloth in the process of manufacture is stretched so it may set or dry evenly.
2. Obsolete. a tenterhook.
–verb (used with object)
3. to stretch (cloth) on a tenter or tenters.
–verb (used without object)
4. to be capable of being tentered.



Unfortunate spider
To choose a sterile tenter
For its larder.

Subfusc

SUBFUSC

-adj.
Dark, drab, or gloomy.
-noun
Dark, formal clothing worn at some universities for exams and special occasions.























You drape memories
Smothering them in subfusc
Chasing life away
Denying the light within
The laugher that still echoes.

Disrobe

DISROBE

–verb (used with object), verb (used without object),
to undress.



You
And
I both
Made of leaves,
Dreading autumn wind
That could disrobe us at whim
Exposing our flesh and soul to ridicule or love.

Poppets are creations by Lisa Snellings.

Pelage

PELAGE

-noun
the fur, hair, or wool of a mammal.



A lustrous pelage
And dashing whiskers,
Fuzzy panache too:
A handsome fellow
Our furry master!

Yet a request comes
For seven league boots
And a rapier!

Gad

GAD

-verb
informal. go around from one place to another seeking pleasure and entertainment.



Contemplate gadding
Across the meadow of life,
Parting the grass stalks,
Stopping to smell each flower,
Basking in both sun and rain.

Lonely

LONELY

-adj.
1 sad because one has no friends or company.
2 solitary.
3 unfrequented and remote.






















Lonely is the broad sight,
Uncluttered
By
Sentiments
Or
Attention.
Smooth and uneventful
Peaceful
To
The point
Of
Boredom.

Poppets are creations by Lisa Snellings.

Sweet

SWEET

-adj.
1. having the taste or flavour characteristic of sugar, honey, etc.
2. producing the one of the four basic taste sensations that is not bitter, sour, or salt.
3. not rancid or stale; fresh: This milk is still sweet.
4. not salt or salted.
5. pleasing to the ear; making a delicate, pleasant, or agreeable sound; musical.
6. pleasing or fresh to the smell; fragrant; perfumed.
7. pleasing or agreeable; delightful.
8. amiable; kind or gracious, as a person, action, etc.
9. dear; beloved; precious.
10.easily managed; done or effected without effort.
11.(of wine) not dry; containing unfermented, natural sugar.
12.(of a cocktail) made with a greater proportion of vermouth than usual.
13.sentimental, cloying, or unrealistic.
14.(of air) fresh; free from odour, staleness, excess humidity, noxious gases, etc.
15.free from acidity or sourness, as soil.
16.Chemistry.
a. devoid of corrosive or acidic substances.
b. (of fuel oil or gas) containing no sulphur compounds.
17.(of jazz or big band music) performed with a regular beat, moderate tempo, lack of improvisation, and an emphasis on warm tone and clearly outlined melody.
–adv.
18.in a sweet manner; sweetly.
–noun
19.a sweet flavour, smell, or sound; sweetness.
20.something that is sweet or causes or gives a sweet flavour, smell, or sound.
21.sweets, Informal.
a. candied sweet potatoes.
b. (in direct address) sweetheart.
22.sweets, pie, cake, candy, and other foods high in sugar content.
23.Chiefly British.
a. a piece of candy; sweetmeat or bonbon.
b. a sweet dish or dessert, as a pudding or tart.
24.something pleasant to the mind or feelings.
25.a beloved person.
26.(in direct address) darling; sweetheart.






















A sweet man
Smiling in the night.
Musical.

Jason Webley

Perquisite

PERQUISITE

–noun
1. an incidental payment, benefit, privilege, or advantage over and above regular income, salary, or wages.
2. a gratuity or tip.
3. something demanded or due as a particular privilege



Regular cuddles,
A soft pelage perquisite.
Furnaces beckon.

Sinople

SINOPLE

-noun
1 (Mineralogy) Ferruginous quartz, of a blood-red or brownish red colour, sometimes with a tinge of yellow.
2 (Heraldry) The tincture vert; green.



Sit
Still:
Autumn,
That jester,
Just confuses trees
Sending them on a mad quest for
New coats of arms in the elusive sinople shade.

Surf

SURF

–noun
1. the swell of the sea that breaks upon a shore or upon shoals.
2. the mass or line of foamy water caused by the breaking of the sea upon a shore, esp. a shallow or sloping shore.
–verb (used without object)
3. to ride a surfboard.
4. to float on the crest of a wave toward shore.
5. to swim, play, or bathe in the surf.
6. to search haphazardly, as for information on a computer network or an interesting program on television.
–verb (used with object)
7. to ride a surfboard on.
8. to search through (a computer network or TV channels) for information or entertainment.



Moon surfing
Frothy sea of clouds
Dew tingling.

Decompose

DECOMPOSE

–verb (used with object)
1. to separate or resolve into constituent parts or elements; disintegrate.
–verb (used without object)
2. to rot; putrefy



Nature
Decomposes autumn
Leaf
After
Leaf
To nourish the earth

Lurgy

LURGY

-noun
British. Familiar: an unspecified illness.






















Scarification
Or
Lurgy?
A tale is kept secret.

Terrace

TERRACE

-noun
1 each of a series of flat areas on a slope, used for cultivation.
2 a patio.
3 chiefly Brit. a row of houses built in one block in a uniform style.
4 Brit. a flight of wide, shallow steps providing standing room for spectators in a stadium.
-verb
make or form (sloping land) into terraces.






















I seek a trace.
A ghost,
Anything, really,
Of your running,
Of you vaulting
Over the terrace,
Over the edge,
And from our life.

Mulch

MULCH

–noun
1. a covering, as of straw, compost, or plastic sheeting, spread on the ground around plants to prevent excessive evaporation or erosion, enrich the soil, inhibit weed growth, etc.
–verb (used with object)
2. to cover with mulch.






















Haphazard mulch
Sheltering bugs
From gawking eyes.

Crud

CRUD

-noun
Informal
British:
1 an unpleasantly dirty or messy substance.
2 nonsense; rubbish.
American:
a. a deposit or coating of refuse or of an impure or alien substance; muck.
b. a filthy, repulsive, or contemptible person.
c. something that is worthless, objectionable, or contemptible.
d. prevarication, exaggeration, or flattery.
e. a non specific, imaginary, or vaguely defined disease or disorder of the body: jungle crud.
f. any unpleasant external ailment, disorder, or the like, as a skin rash.
g. venereal disease, especially syphilis.
h. Vulgar. dried semen.






















Crud left flying in the wind
To attach itself to grass or trees.
Decomposing words
Literary compost.

Collect

COLLECT

–verb (used with object)
1. to gather together; assemble.
2. to accumulate; make a collection of: to collect stamps.
3. to receive or compel payment of.
4. to regain control of (oneself or one's thoughts, faculties, composure, or the like).
5. to call for and take with one.
6. Manège. to bring (a horse) into a collected attitude.
7. Archaic. to infer.
–verb (used without object)
8. to gather together; assemble.
9. to accumulate.
10.to receive payment (often followed by “on”).
11.to gather or bring together books, stamps, coins, etc., usually as a hobby.
12.Manège. (of a horse) to come into a collected attitude.
–adjective, adverb
13.requiring payment by the recipient

–noun
any of certain brief prayers used in Western churches especially before the epistle in the communion service.






















Pebbles collected
From a rushing river bed.
The scent of fire.

Scurry

SCURRY

–verb (used without object)
1. to go or move quickly or in haste.
–verb (used with object)
2. to send hurrying along.
–noun
3. a scurrying rush.
4. a short run or race.



Pumpkin scents waft in,
Heavy with spices and smiles-
Clouds scurry along.

Descent

DESCENT

-noun
1 an act or the action of descending.
2 a downward slope.
3 a person’s origin or nationality.
4 (Followed by “on”) a sudden violent attack on






















Descent to a tomb
Snaking, snug, inside the hill.
Damp earth aroma.

Quixotic

QUIXOTIC

-adj.
Extravagantly chivalrous or foolishly idealistic; visionary; impractical






















Quixotic ideas
Feeding upon utopias
To create art form.
Surrealism at work
On the wall of all cities.

Excelsior

EXCELSIOR

–noun
1. fine wood shavings, used for stuffing, packing, etc.
2. Printing. a 3-point type: a size smaller than brilliant.



Banana leaves excelsior,
Over large
Packing the travelling crates
Of elephants
Going on extended journeys.

Twee

TWEE

-adj.
excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental.



Twee kitten
Looking for mischief
In shadows.