Tuesday 30 June 2015

Destitute

DESTITUTE

-adj.
1. lacking the means of subsistence; totally impoverished
2. (postpositive) followed by “of” . completely lacking; deprived or bereft (of) 
3. (obsolete) abandoned or deserted



















Thrown about and forgotten
Obsolete books and notions
Destitute words

Monday 29 June 2015

Reprove

REPROVE

-verb
(trans.)  to speak disapprovingly to (a person); rebuke or scold

























He loved nothing more
Than to reprove his peers
They had his head off
For a share of laughter.

Sunday 28 June 2015

Saké

SAKÉ

-noun
a Japanese alcoholic drink made from fermented rice

























Raw and marinated fish dishes

With a suggestion of saké

Saturday 27 June 2015

Gumption

GUMPTION

-noun (informal)
1. (British) common sense or resourcefulness
2. initiative or courage 

























Young cat in love
Might have gumption

But shows none

Friday 26 June 2015

Ecdemic

ECDEMIC

-adj.
not indigenous or endemic; foreign 

























Oblique lighting
And storms
Ecdemic lace

Displaced

Thursday 25 June 2015

Luminiferous

LUMINIFEROUS

-adj.
generating or transmitting light

























At night
Lumiferous designs
Turn to life

Aliens

Wednesday 24 June 2015

Splendent

SPLENDENT

-adj. (archaic)
1. shining brightly; lustrous 
2. famous; illustrious

























A memory
Of splendent
Creative days

Long gone

Tuesday 23 June 2015

Alas

ALAS

-sentence connector
1. unfortunately; regrettably
-exclamation
2. an exclamation of grief, compassion, or alarm

























They have covered
The lovely stone floor
With a bad carpet, alas
And we cannot admire

The colourful lace

Monday 22 June 2015

Insidious

INSIDIOUS

-adj.
1. stealthy, subtle, cunning, or treacherous
2. working in a subtle or apparently innocuous way, but nevertheless deadly




















Lulling sounds
Insidious march
Dreams creeping in
To keep one prisoner

Of the rail trap

Sunday 21 June 2015

Celery

CELERY

-noun
an umbelliferous Eurasian plant, Apium graveolens dulce, whose raw or blanched leafs and stalks are used in salads or cooked as a vegetable 

























My super-sensitivity
To celery flavour
Destroys the balance

Of a wonderful dish

Saturday 20 June 2015

Rumbustious

RUMBUSTIOUS

-adj.
boisterous or unruly


























I tell him off
For being rumbustious
But he claims
He can’t help himself

True to his kitten self

Friday 19 June 2015

Obnubilate

OBNUBILATE

-verb
(trans.).(literary) . to darken or obscure

























Gothic lamps
Doing very little
To avoid obnubilating

Of secret passages

Thursday 18 June 2015

Sempiternal

SEMPITERNAL

-adj.
(literary) everlasting; eternal



















From afar
All this seems stuck
Sempiternal by default

Yet it crumbles

Wednesday 17 June 2015

Alight

ALIGHT

-verb  (intr.)
1. (usually followed by “from”) to step out (of) or get down (from)
2. to come to rest; settle; land 

-adj., adv. (postpositive)
1. burning; on fire
2. illuminated; lit up

























Boring hangar
Alight

Glorious wall

Tuesday 16 June 2015

Quake

QUAKE

-verb (intr.)
1. to shake or tremble with or as with fear
2. to convulse or quiver, as from instability
-noun
3. the act or an instance of quaking




















Night time photography
Quaking hands

Abstract smears and bokeh

Monday 15 June 2015

Buffet

BUFFET

-noun
1. a counter where light refreshments are served
2. a meal at which guests help themselves from a number of dishes and often eat standing up
3. a piece of furniture used from medieval times to the 18th century for displaying plates, etc., and typically comprising one or more cupboards and some open shelves
4. (Scottish & Northern England, dialect) . a kind of low stool, pouffe, or hassock

-verb
1. (trans.) to knock against or about; batter 
2. (trans.) to hit, especially with the fist; cuff
3. to force (one's way), as through a crowd
4. (intr.) to struggle; battle
-noun
5. a blow, especially with a fist or hand
6. aerodynamic excitation of an aircraft structure by separated flows

























I tried
Several time
In the night
To buffet my way
Through this crowd
To walk a little quicker
It closed on me
Each time

Spitting my bones

Sunday 14 June 2015

Acidulous

ACIDULOUS

-adj.
1. rather sour
2. sharp or sour in speech, manner, etc.; acid



















Butter and brandy
Compensating – balancing

Acidulous pineapple

Saturday 13 June 2015

Slonk

SLONK

-verb
(obsolete) . to swallow greedily

























Little feral devil
Slonks offered food

And runs 

Friday 12 June 2015

Literacy

LITERACY

-noun
1. the ability to read and write
2. the ability to use language proficiently

























Using literacy
To promote

Basic humanity

Thursday 11 June 2015

Buff

BUFF

-noun
1. a soft thick flexible un-dyed leather made chiefly from the skins of buffalo, oxen, and elk
2. a dull yellow or yellowish-brown colour
3. Also called: buffer
a) a cloth or pad of material used for polishing an object
b) a flexible disc or wheel impregnated with a fine abrasive for polishing metals, etc., with a power tool
4. (informal) one's bare skin
-verb
5. to clean or polish (a metal, floor, shoes, etc.) with a buff
6. to remove the grain surface of (a leather)
-adj.
7. (informal) fit; attractive

-verb
1. (trans.) to deaden the force of
-noun
2. (archaic) a blow or buffet

-noun
1. (informal) an expert on or devotee of a given subject

























Those hues
In the night

A visual buff 

Wednesday 10 June 2015

Scurf

SCURF

-noun
1. another name for dandruff
2. flaky or scaly matter adhering to or peeling off a surface

























Looking behind
The simple appearance
Of pretty things

Looking for scurf

Tuesday 9 June 2015

Roil

ROIL

-verb
1. (trans.) to make (a liquid) cloudy or turbid by stirring up dregs or sediment
2. (intr.) (especially of a liquid) to be agitated or disturbed
3. (intr.) (dialect) to be noisy or boisterous
4. (trans) another word (now rare) for rile in the sense “to annoy or anger; irritate”

























Pollution
Propagating weeds
And phytoplankton
Roiled by waves

Opaque water

Monday 8 June 2015

Vermiculate

VERMICULATE

-verb
1. (trans.) to decorate with wavy or wormlike tracery or markings
-adj.
2. vermicular; sinuous
3. worm-eaten or appearing as if worm-eaten
4. (of thoughts, etc.) insinuating; subtly tortuous

























Haunting Shoreditch
Vermiculate art

Creeping in darkness


Street art by Otto Schade

Sunday 7 June 2015

Turbinacious

TURBINACIOUS

-adj.

(archaic, literary) with a peaty aroma or flavour

























Whisky and chocolate cake
Turbinacious and savoury
Smoked salt butter










Saturday 6 June 2015

Snazzy

SNAZZY

-adj.
(informal) stylishly and often flashily attractive

























He admits to
Being snazzy

And unabashed about it

Friday 5 June 2015

Graze

GRAZE

-verb
1. to allow (animals) to consume the vegetation on (an area of land), or (of animals, especially cows and sheep) to feed thus
2. (trans.) to tend (livestock) while at pasture
3. (informal) to eat snacks throughout the day rather than formal meals
4.(South Africa, informal) to eat
5. (intr.) (informal) to switch between television channels while viewing without watching any channel for long
6. (US) to pilfer and eat sweets, fruit, etc., from supermarket shelves while shopping
-noun
7. (South Africa, informal) a snack; something to eat

-verb
1. When int., often followed by “against” or “along” to brush or scrape (against) gently, especially in passing
2. (trans.) to break the skin of (a part of the body) by scraping
-noun
3. the act of grazing
4. a scrape or abrasion made by grazing

























Between waves
Flocks of rocks graze

Turning to sand

Thursday 4 June 2015

Stramash

STRAMASH

-noun
1. an uproar; tumult; brawl
-verb
2. (trans.) to destroy; smash

























Time has been by
Stramashing bills and pamphlets

Creating a collage

Wednesday 3 June 2015

Gerund

GERUND

-noun
a noun formed from a verb, denoting an action or state. In English, the gerund, like the present participle, is formed in -ing 


















Looking,
Tasting,
Liking the gerund

Gerunding

Tuesday 2 June 2015

Tumescent

TUMESCENT

-adj.
swollen or becoming swollen

















Secret passage?
A tumescent two

Invites the hand 

Monday 1 June 2015

Portend

PORTEND

-verb (trans.)
1. to give warning of; predict or foreshadow
2. (obsolete) to indicate or signify; mean

























Discovery of the sky
With a few essentials
Portends amazing finds

And a treasure of stories