Apropos

APROPOS

-adv.
1. In reference to.
2. Appropriately; relevantly.
-adj.
3. Appropriate.






















Comfort to the soul:
Apropos dishes of tea.
Fog tendrils waft by.

Tongue

TONGUE

–noun
1. Anatomy. the usually movable organ in the floor of the mouth in humans and most vertebrates, functioning in eating, in tasting, and, in humans, in speaking.
2. Zoology. an analogous organ in invertebrate animals.
3. the tongue of an animal, as an ox, beef, or sheep, used for food, often prepared by smoking or pickling.
4. the human tongue as the organ of speech.
5. the faculty or power of speech.
6. speech or talk, especially mere glib or empty talk.
7. manner or character of speech.
8. the language of a particular people, region, or nation.
9. a dialect.
10.(in the Bible) a people or nation distinguished by its language.
11.tongues, speech, often incomprehensible, typically uttered during moments of religious ecstasy.
12.an object that resembles an animal's tongue in shape, position, or function.
13.a strip of leather or other material under the lacing or fastening of a shoe.
14.a piece of metal suspended inside a bell that strikes against the side producing a sound; clapper.
15.a vibrating reed or similar structure in a musical instrument, as in a clarinet, or in part of a musical instrument, as in an organ reed pipe.
16.the pole extending from a carriage or other vehicle between the animals drawing it.
17.a projecting strip along the centre of the edge or end of a board, for fitting into a groove in another board.
18.a narrow strip of land extending into a body of water; cape.
19.a section of ice projecting outward from the submerged part of an iceberg.
20.Machinery. a long, narrow projection on a machine.
21.that part of a rail road switch that is shifted to direct the wheels of a locomotive or car to one or the other track of a rail road.
22.the pin of a buckle, brooch, etc.
–verb (used with object)
23.to articulate (tones played on a clarinet, trumpet, etc.) by strokes of the tongue.
24.Carpentry.
a.to cut a tongue on (a board).
b.to join or fit together by a tongue-and-groove joint.
25.to touch with the tongue.
26.to articulate or pronounce.
27.Archaic.
a.to reproach or scold.
b.to speak or utter.
–verb (used without object)
28.to tongue tones played on a clarinet, trumpet, etc.
29.to talk, especially idly or foolishly; chatter; prate.
30.to project like a tongue.



Kitty had heard of “langues de chat”
But when she was faced with reality,
She found some other cat had got her tongue.

Travesty

TRAVESTY

–noun
1. a literary or artistic burlesque of a serious work or subject, characterized by grotesque or ludicrous incongruity of style, treatment, or subject matter.
2. a literary or artistic composition so inferior in quality as to be merely a grotesque imitation of its model.
3. any grotesque or debased likeness or imitation.
–verb (used with object)
4. to make a travesty on; turn (a serious work or subject) to ridicule by burlesquing.
5. to imitate grotesquely or absurdly.






















Shadows
Shivering at the edge of darkness
Where night, reluctant, dresses as dawn
A light travesty.

Anonymity

ANONYMITY

-noun
1. the state or quality of being anonymous.
2. an anonymous person























Drunk
Or
Tipsy
Anything
Could happen in gloom.
Tiptoeing at the edge of night,
Few shadows enjoy a moment's anonymity.

Stalk

STALK

–noun
1. the stem or main axis of a plant.
2. any slender supporting or connecting part of a plant, as the petiole of a leaf, the peduncle of a flower, or the funicle of an ovule.
3. a similar structural part of an animal.
4. a stem, shaft, or slender supporting part of anything.
5. Automotive. a slender lever, usually mounted on or near the steering wheel, that is used by the driver to control a signal or function

–verb (used without object)
1. to pursue or approach prey, quarry, etc., stealthily.
2. to walk with measured, stiff, or haughty strides.
3. to proceed in a steady, deliberate, or sinister manner.
4. Obsolete. to walk or go stealthily along.
–verb (used with object)
5. to pursue (game, a person, etc.) stealthily.
6. to proceed through (an area) in search of prey or quarry: to stalk the woods for game.
7. to proceed or spread through in a steady or sinister manner.
–noun
8. an act or course of stalking quarry, prey, or the like.
9. a slow, stiff stride or gait.



Sunshine creeping up the hill
Lighting up the grass,
Stalk after stalk after stalk.

Avatar

AVATAR

-noun
1. Hindu Mythology. the descent of a deity to the earth in an incarnate form or some manifest shape; the incarnation of a god.
2. an embodiment or personification, as of a principle, attitude, or view of life.
3. Computers. a graphical image that represents a person, as on the Internet.



I could see
Into her eyes
Avatars of her dreamed life
Half mighty beast
Half kept woman
Each starving for
A caress or
A morsel.

Funicular

FUNICULAR

–adj.
1. of or pertaining to a rope or cord, or its tension.
2. worked by a rope or the like.
–noun
3. Funicular railway





















Funicular actors
Treading a fine line
Outside their control

Pandiculation

PANDICULATION

-noun
A stretching and stiffening especially of the trunk and extremities (as when fatigued and drowsy or after waking from sleep).



To cats,
Pandiculation
Comes naturally.
The result of healthy dreaming.

Macaroon

MACAROON

–noun
a drop cookie made of egg whites, sugar, usually almond paste or coconut, and sometimes a little flour.
A sweet made of two macaroon shells enclosing a cream filling.























Temptation so sweet:
A palette of macaroons
Singing with flavours.

Prisoner

PRISONER

–noun
1. A person held in custody, captivity, or a condition of forcible restraint, especially while on trial or serving a prison sentence.
2. One deprived of freedom of expression or action






















Prisoner of her own will
Either inside or out.
There is always some annoying
Door in the way.

Untenable

UNTENABLE

-adj.
not able to be held, as of an opinion or position; un-holdable, indefensible



Untenable monsters,
Breaking off from their wooden bed
Ready to rampage.

Carapace

CARAPACE

-noun
1. The thick shell that covers the back of the turtle, the crab, and other animals.
2. Something likened to a shell that serves to protect or isolate from external influence.



Abandoned lone shoe
As discarded carapace.
Unnatural slough.

Esculent

ESCULENT

-adj.
Edible
- noun
something edible; a comestible






















Esculent treasures
Hidden in the midst of leaves.
Autumn promises.

Horse

HORSE

–noun
1. a large, solid-hoofed, herbivorous quadruped, Equus caballus, domesticated since prehistoric times, bred in a number of varieties, and used for carrying or pulling loads, for riding, and for racing.
2. a fully mature male animal of this type; stallion.
3. any of several odd-toed ungulates belonging to the family Equidae, including the horse, zebra, donkey, and ass, having a thick, flat coat with a narrow mane along the back of the neck and bearing the weight on only one functioning digit, the third, which is widened into a round or spade-shaped hoof.
4. something on which a person rides, sits, or exercises, as if astride the back of such an animal.
5. Also called trestle. a frame, block, etc., with legs, on which something is mounted or supported.
6. Gymnastics.
a. vaulting horse - a padded, somewhat cylindrical floor-supported apparatus, braced horizontally at an adjustable height, used for hand support and pushing off in vaulting.
b. a padded, somewhat cylindrical floor-supported apparatus, similar to pommel horse - a vaulting horse but having two graspable pommels on top, used by men for hand-supported balancing, rotating, and swinging manoeuvres.
7. Carpentry. an inclined beam, as a string, supporting the steps of a stair.
8. soldiers serving on horseback; cavalry.
9. Slang. a man; fellow.
10.Often, horses. Informal (horsepower)
a. a foot-pound-second unit of power, equivalent to 550 foot-pounds per second, or 745.7 watts.
b. Informal. the capacity to achieve or produce; strength or talent:
11.Horses, Slang. the power or capacity to accomplish something, as by having enough money, personnel, or expertise
12.Chess Informal. a knight.
13.Slang. a crib, translation, or other illicit aid to a student's recitation; trot; pony.
14.Mining. a mass of rock enclosed within a lode or vein.
15.Nautical. a rope, spar, or rod (also called traveller).
16.Shipbuilding. a mould of a curved frame, especially one used when the complexity of the curves requires laying out at full size.
17.Slang. Heroin
–verb (used with object)
18.to provide with a horse or horses.
19.to set on horseback.
20.to set or carry on a person's back or on one's own back.
21.Carpentry. to cut notches for steps into (a carriage beam).
22.to move with great physical effort or force: It took three men to horse the trunk up the stairs.
23.Slang.
a. to make (a person) the target of boisterous jokes.
b. to perform boisterously, as a part or a scene in a play.
24.Nautical.
a. to caulk (a vessel) with a hammer.
b. to work or haze (a sailor) cruelly or unfairly.
25.Archaic. to place (someone) on a person's back, in order to be flogged.
–verb (used without object)
26.to mount or go on a horse.
27.(of a mare) to be in heat.
28.Vulgar. to have coitus.
–adj.
29.of, for, or pertaining to a horse or horses.
30.drawn or powered by a horse or horses.
31.mounted or serving on horses: horse troops.
32.unusually large.



If joking humans can horse around,
Do boisterous horses human about when joking?

Palette

PALETTE

–noun
1. a thin and usually oval or oblong board or tablet with a thumb hole at one end, used by painters for holding and mixing colours.
2. any other flat surface used by a painter for this purpose.
3. the set of colours on such a board or surface.
4. the range of colours used by a particular artist.
5. the variety of techniques or range of any art.
6. the complete range of colours made available by a computer graphics card, from which a user or program may choose those to be displayed.
7. (in ancient Egyptian art) a somewhat flattish slate object of various shapes, carved with commemorative scenes or motifs or, esp. in the smaller pieces, containing a recessed area probably for holding eye make-up and often used as a votive offering.
8. Also, pallette. Armour. a small plate defending the front of the armpit when the arm is lifted; gusset.




He dreamt of singing autumn's palette
Long enough to discover winter set in.

Blanch

BLANCH

–verb (used with object)
1. to whiten by removing colour; bleach.
2. Cookery.
a. to scald briefly and then drain, as peaches or almonds to facilitate removal of skins, or as rice or macaroni to separate the grains or strands.
b. to scald or parboil (meat or vegetables) so as to whiten, remove the odour, prepare for cooking by other means, etc.
3. Horticulture. (of the stems or leaves of plants, as celery or lettuce) to whiten or prevent from becoming green by excluding light.
4. Metallurgy.
a. to give a white lustre to (metals), as by means of acids.
b. to coat (sheet metal) with tin.
5. to make pale, as with sickness or fear.
–verb (used without object)
6. to become white; turn pale.

–verb (used with object)
1. to force back or to one side; head off, as a deer or other quarry.



A handful almonds
First scalded – blanched - and stripped.
Cake in the making.

Beggar

BEGGAR

–noun
1. a person who begs alms or lives by begging.
2. a penniless person.
3. a wretched fellow; rogue.
4. a person of a specified type.
–verb (used with object)
5. to reduce to utter poverty; impoverish.
6. to cause one's resources of or ability for (description, comparison, etc.) to seem poor or inadequate



Love,
That hungry beggar
Robbed me of my jewels:
Dream, Hope, and Sleep.

Sleeping beauty courtesy of George Eastman House

Nihilarian

NIHILARIAN

-noun
One who does useless work.























His delight
As a devoted nihilarian
Was to write long memos
In transparent ink
Or corrector fluid.

Spectrum

SPECTRUM

-noun
• Physics The distribution of a characteristic of a physical system or phenomenon, especially:
a. The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, as by an incandescent body, arranged in order of wavelengths.
b. The distribution of atomic or subatomic particles in a system, as in a magnetically resolved molecular beam, arranged in order of masses.
c. A range of values of a quantity or set of related quantities.
d. A broad sequence or range of related qualities, ideas, or activities.
• A graphic or photographic representation of such a distribution.
a. A range of values of a quantity or set of related quantities.
b. A broad sequence or range of related qualities, ideas, or activities






















You disappear
A vision that once was reality
Leaving your smile behind
Sepulchral spectrum
As last mystery.

Vision

VISION

–noun
1. the act or power of sensing with the eyes; sight.
2. the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be.
3. an experience in which a personage, thing, or event appears vividly or credibly to the mind, although not actually present, often under the influence of a divine or other agency: a heavenly messenger appearing in a vision.
4. something seen or otherwise perceived during such an experience.
5. a vivid, imaginative conception or anticipation: visions of wealth and glory.
6. something seen; an object of sight.
7. a scene, person, etc., of extraordinary beauty.
8.Computer vision:
a.a robot analogue of human vision in which information about the environment is received by one or more video cameras and processed by computer: used in navigation by robots, in the control of automated production lines, etc.
b.a similar system for the blind that converts optical information into tactile signals.
–verb (used with object)
9. to envision






















Silver movements
Quick vision too soon denied.
Storm dragon lurking.

Flitter

FLITTER

-intr. verb
1. To move about rapidly and nimbly.
2. To move quickly from one condition or location to another.
-noun
1. A fluttering or darting movement.
2. Informal An empty-headed, silly, often erratic person.



Traces of you flitter at the border of my vision
Silence pregnant with frozen words
Crocus surprised by early snow.

Acnetis

ACNETIS

-noun
The part of the body where one cannot reach to scratch.























Cats invented mankind for company
As much as
To find a solution to their problem of acnetis

Paramount

PARAMOUNT

–adj.
1. chief in importance or impact; supreme; pre-eminent.
2. above others in rank or authority; superior in power or jurisdiction.
–noun
3. a supreme ruler; overlord.




Love
Paramount ruler
Jester supreme
Knows how to be magnanimous.

Desire

DESIRE

–verb (used with object)
1. to wish or long for; crave; want.
2. to express a wish to obtain; ask for; request.
–noun
3. a longing or craving, as for something that brings satisfaction or enjoyment.
4. an expressed wish; request.
5. something desired.
6. sexual appetite or a sexual urge.




Such
As
Fire:
Desire.
A measureless creature
And pernicious common traitor.

Manichean

MANICHEAN

-adj.
Of or relating to a dualistic view of the world, dividing things into either good or evil, light or dark, black or white, involving no shades of gray.






















Manichean world
Pushing the contrast function
On my camera.
Leaves turn to intricate lace
Against a sky made of milk.

Liminal

LIMINAL

-adj.
1. At an intermediate state.
2. At the threshold of consciousness.






















Liminal slumber:
A twitching ear and whiskers.
The stove purrs away.

Carp

CARP

–verb (used without object)
1. to find fault or complain querulously or unreasonably; be niggling in criticizing; cavil.
–noun
2. a peevish complaint.

–noun
1. a large freshwater cyprinid fish, Cyprinus carpio, native to Asia but widely introduced in tropical and temperate waters: an important food fish in many countries.
2. any of various other fishes of the family Cyprinidae.



Carps are know to carp viciously
And yet...
We never hear them!


Vintage lady appearance courtesy of inspyretash_stock at DeviantArt

Dolt

DOLT

–noun
a dull, stupid person; blockhead.



Keep
At
That thing,
Sore carcass,
Fellow lunatic.
Live to the foul, prodigal dolt,
Corrupt your brain on this hollow endless play, vain slave.

Attrition

ATTRITION

–noun
1. a reduction or decrease in numbers, size, or strength.
2. a wearing down or weakening of resistance, esp. as a result of continuous pressure or harassment.
3. a gradual reduction in work force without firing of personnel, as when workers resign or retire and are not replaced.
4. the act of rubbing against something; friction.
5. a wearing down or away by friction; abrasion.
6. Theology. imperfect contrition.























Autumn’s attrition
In every single leaf.
Forests getting bald.

Shift

SHIFT

–verb (used with object)
1. to put (something) aside and replace it by another or others; change or exchange.
2. to transfer from one place, position, person, etc., to another.
3. Automotive. to change (gears) from one ratio or arrangement to another.
4. Linguistics. to change in a systematic way, especially phonetically.
–verb (used without object)
5. to move from one place, position, direction, etc., to another.
6. to manage to get along or succeed by oneself.
7. to get along by indirect methods; use any expediency, trick, or evasion to get along or succeed.
8. to change gears in driving a vehicle.
9. Linguistics. to undergo a systematic, especially phonetic, change.
10.to press a shift key, as on a typewriter keyboard.
11.Archaic. to change one's clothes.
–noun
12.a change or transfer from one place, position, direction, person, etc., to another.
13.a person's scheduled period of work, especially the portion of the day scheduled as a day's work when a shop, service, office, or industry operates continuously during both the day and night.
14.a group of workers scheduled to work during such a period.
15.Baseball. a notable repositioning by several fielders to the left or the right of their normal playing position, an occasional strategy against batters who usually hit the ball to the same side of the field.
16.Automotive. a gearshift.
17.Clothing.
a. a straight, loose-fitting dress worn with or without a belt.
b. a woman's chemise or slip.
18.Football. a lateral or backward movement from one position to another, usually by two or more offensive players just before the ball is put into play.
19.Mining. a dislocation of a seam or stratum; fault.
20.Music. a change in the position of the left hand on the fingerboard in playing a stringed instrument.
21.Linguistics.
a. a change or system of parallel changes that affects the sound structure of a language, as the series of related changes in the English vowel system from Middle English to Modern English.
b. a change in the meaning or use of a word.
22.an expedient; ingenious device.
23.an evasion, artifice, or trick.
24.change or substitution.
25.Bridge. shift bid: a bid in a suit different from the suit just bid by one's partner. .
26.Agriculture. (in crop rotation)
a. any of successive crops.
b. the tract of land used.
27.an act or instance of using the shift key, as on a typewriter keyboard.























Hours after minutes after seconds
Every single blinking moment
A subtle shift
No more than a sleight of hands
From the clock
Stealing time from under our feet.

We turn around
And tomorrow isn't quite
That other day any more
Too busy becoming yesterday.