Losel

LOSEL

-noun
One that is worthless.























Losel stamp
Still pretty despite the hoax:
This printed bound will buy nothing
But prison time.

Phenotype

PHENOTYPE

-noun
Genetics .
1. the observable constitution of an organism.
2. the appearance of an organism resulting from the interaction of the genotype and the environment.



Smothered by paper
I become paper too, creasing with age
Cursed by phenotype

Apheresis

APHERESIS

-noun
1. Also, aphaeresis. the loss or omission of one or more letters or sounds at the beginning of a word, as in squire for esquire, or count for account.
2. Medicine/Medical . the withdrawal of whole blood from the body, separation of one or more components, and return by transfusion of remaining blood to the donor.



My attempts at apheresis
Did not quite result in the way I meant them to:
One dragon down
Eleven to go.

Substrate

SUBSTRATE

-noun
1. Something that is spread or laid under something else.
2. In biochemistry. the substance acted upon by an enzyme.
3. In electronics, a supporting material on which a circuit is formed or fabricated.























Substrate drawings
Changing the nature of walls
Helping them resonate
The city's soul.

Mountebank

MOUNTEBANK

-noun
An unscrupulous pretender; a quack.























It's all politics and politicians:
Mountebanks and quacks, crooks.
Vampires would be more honest.

Albedo

ALBEDO

-noun
1. Astronomy . the ratio of the light reflected by a planet or satellite to that received by it.
2. Meteorology . such a ratio for any part of the earth's surface or atmosphere.
3. the white, inner rind of a citrus fruit.
























Inner albedo
Reflecting light from within
All fragrant traces

Apodictic

APODICTIC

-adj.
1. Necessarily true or logically certain.
2. Incontestable because of having been demonstrated or proved to be demonstrable.























"The cat is hungry"
Is an apodictic statement

Caliper

CALIPER

–noun
1. Usually, calipers. an instrument for measuring thicknesses and internal or external diameters inaccessible to a scale, consisting usually of a pair of adjustable pivoted legs.
2. any of various calibrated instruments for measuring thicknesses or distances between surfaces, usually having a screwed or sliding adjustable piece.
3. thickness or depth, as of paper or a tree.
4. Usually, calipers. the pincers of an earwig.
5. Automotive . the part of a disc-brake assembly that straddles the disc and presses the brake pads against it.
6. a similar part used with a hand brake on a bicycle.
–verb (used with object)
7. to measure with calipers.
–verb (used without object)
8. to use calipers.

















Struggling to get out of bed ?
Developing a sad case of caliper pillows.
Howling at the moon.

Henge

HENGE

-noun
a prehistoric monument consisting of a circle of stone or wooden uprights.























Waiting for the dentist
To look at the henge in my mouth
To sacrifice his hand.

Vaunt

VAUNT

-verb (used with object)
1. to speak vaingloriously of; boast of
-verb (used without object)
2. to speak boastfully; brag.
-noun
3. a boastful action or utterance.























Indulge me.
Let me vaunt my latest piece
Hidden in an amazing magazine.

Anserine

ANSERINE

-adj.
1. Of or relating to a goose.
2. Stupid; silly.



Anserine crowd
Cackling in the morning
Back to school

Runnel

RUNNEL

–noun
1. a small stream; brook; rivulet.
2. a small channel, as for water.

























A water defined land
Delimited by runnels
Liquid net for light.

Polysemous

POLYSEMOUS

-adj.
Having a diversity of meanings.























Of all the nice things
Love is too often polysemous
Chocolate is unambiguous.

Heinous

HEINOUS

–adj.
hateful; odious; abominable; totally reprehensible



The critters can be right heinous
When they cry through the depth of night

Obtund

OBTUND

-verb (used with object)
to blunt; dull; deaden.























I will obtund the blow
And will garnish the tale
With ribbons and festoons
But end it must anyhow.

Lairy

LAIRY

-adj.
gaudy or flashy























Fuzz and thrills
Lairy display
Temptations for all.

Objurgation

OBJURGATION

-noun
a harsh rebuke



Enticements and sweet nothings
Met but with objurgation
Stubborn love fears splinters

Hortatory

HORTATORY

—adj.
tending to exhort; encouraging (also: hortative)























Hortatory cookies
Hinting at truce.
She’s on a diet.

Fanfare

FANFARE

–noun
1. a flourish or short air played on trumpets or the like.
2. an ostentatious display or flourish.
3. publicity or advertising.























Blue sky
Summer fanfare
Long shadows

Protreptical

PROTREPTICAL

-adj.
Adapted to persuade; hortatory; persuasive























I was raised
Believing in
Protreptical values
Of desserts

Berm

BERM

—noun
1. a narrow path or ledge at the edge of a slope, road, or canal
2. ( NZ ) the grass verge of a suburban street, usually kept mown
3. fortifications a narrow path or ledge between a moat and a rampart
4. military a man-made ridge of sand, designed as an obstacle to tanks, which, in crossing it, have to expose their vulnerable underparts



Lover of soft berms
He looks at the world passing him by

Boon

BOON

-noun
1. something to be thankful for; blessing; benefit.
2. something that is asked; a favour sought.

-adj.
1. jolly; jovial; convivial.
2. Archaic . kindly; gracious; bounteous.

-noun
Textiles . the ligneous waste product obtained by braking and scutching flax.


























With sighs
Cooler weather settles in
A boon for all

Tarn

TARN

—noun
a small mountain lake or pool




















Your eyes
Volcanic tarns
Deep
Dark
Cool
Hiding whirlpools

Declension

DECLENSION

-noun
1. Grammar .
a. the inflection of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives for categories such as case and number.
b. the whole set of inflected forms of such a word, or the recital thereof in a fixed order.
c. a class of such words having similar sets of inflected forms.
2. an act or instance of declining.
3. a bending, sloping, or moving downward.
4. deterioration; decline.
5. deviation, as from a standard.



Clouds come
In all manners of declension
From light and rosy
To stormy monsters

Whit

WHIT

-noun
a particle; bit; jot (used especially in negative phrases)






















They've gone
Leaving but a whit of dust behind
Drawing memory games
In the wind.

Mickle

MICKLE

—adj.
1. great or abundant
—adv.
2. much; greatly
—noun
3. a great amount
4. (Scot) a small amount.























A mickle ?
or
A mickle ?
Recipes can be so vexing

Pudding

PUDDING

-noun
1. a sweetened usually cooked dessert made in many forms and of various ingredients, such as flour, milk, and eggs, with fruit, etc
2. a savoury dish, usually soft and consisting partially of pastry or batter
3. the dessert course in a meal
4. a sausage-like mass of seasoned minced meat, oatmeal, etc, stuffed into a prepared skin or bag and boiled
4. Nautical . a pad or fender for preventing scraping or chafing or for lessening shock between vessels or other objects.























Sweet pudding
Soothing the day
Childhood memories

Enthymeme

ENTHYMEME

—noun
1. an incomplete syllogism, in which one or more premises are unexpressed as their truth is considered to be self-evident
2. any argument some of whose premises are omitted as obvious



She speaks
Enthymeme
As a matter of fact
All is clear, isn’t it?

Dross

DROSS

–noun
1. waste matter; refuse.
2. Metallurgy . a waste product taken off molten metal during smelting, essentially metallic in character.
3. British . coal of little value.



We float by
Vague dross
Of a superior Nature
Easily disposed of
Yet lethal still.

Bane

BANE

–noun
1. a person or thing that ruins or spoils.
2. a deadly poison (often used in combination, as in the names of poisonous plants).
3. death; destruction; ruin.
4. Obsolete . that which causes death or destroys life



Neglect
Rather than fight
Is the bane of our love
It’s hard to kiss
Cobwebs