Polymath

POLYMATH

-noun
A person who is learned in many fields.























She considers texture,
Measures elasticity,
Ponders over gravity:
A young polymath
Playing at pizza making.

Kleptocracy

KLEPTOCRACY

-noun
A government by the corrupt in which rulers use their official positions for personal gain.























Kleptocracy
Strikes too close to home
For comfort
When will it cease?
If not now, when?

Chapbook

CHAPBOOK

-noun
A small book or pamphlet containing stories, poems, or religious tracts.























To be held religiously:
My first chapbook of poetry.

Enchiridion

ENCHIRIDION

-noun
A handbook or a manual.























I love to rely
On my favourite
Enchiridion

Marrow

MARROW

—noun
1. the fatty network of connective tissue that fills the cavities of bones
2. the vital part; essence
3. vitality
4. rich food
5. ( Brit ) short for vegetable marrow

-noun
Scot. and North England .
1. a partner; fellow worker.
2. a spouse; helpmate.
3. a companion; close friend.























My marrow
He has some too
Yet without any real taste for it.

Divot

DIVOT

—noun
a piece of turf dug out of a grass surface, especially by a golf club or by horses' hooves























Galloping kitties
Digging divots in the garden
Horsing around.

Organ

ORGAN

-noun
1. a. Also called: pipe organ a large complex musical keyboard instrument in which sound is produced by means of a number of pipes arranged in sets or stops, supplied with air from a bellows. The largest instruments possess three or more manuals and one pedal keyboard and have the greatest range of any instrument
b. ( as modifier ): organ pipe ; organ stop ; organ loft
2. reed organ See also harmonica any instrument, such as a harmonium, in which sound is produced in this way
3. electric organ short for electronic organ
4. a fully differentiated structural and functional unit, such as a kidney or a root, in an animal or plant
5. an agency or medium of communication, especially a periodical issued by a specialist group or party
6. an instrument with which something is done or accomplished
7. a euphemistic word for penis




Catching light in the early morning
Organ music twirls, high on incense

Qualm

QUALM

–noun
1. an uneasy feeling or pang of conscience as to conduct; compunction.
2. a sudden feeling of apprehensive uneasiness; misgiving.
3. a sudden sensation or onset of faintness or illness, especially of nausea.

























Do fading saints suffer
From existential qualms?

Imbue

IMBUE

-verb (used with object)
1. to impregnate or inspire, as with feelings, opinions, etc.
2. to saturate or impregnate with moisture, colour, etc.
3. to imbrue.

























Waterslides of tears or acid rains
Rinsing distress imbued walls
Crying already dark polluted stains
Over moulds from repressed sorrow
Scratched, slashed or splashed over
By storms - murders - of angry hands
Eager to express instant indignation
Suffocated aspirations and hopes.

Conflate

CONFLATE

-verb (trans)
to combine or blend (two things, especially two versions of a text) so as to form a whole























In those pages
Empires conflate
Bound into descent
By sheer weight
Historical gravity

Profectitious

PROFECTITIOUS

-adj.
Proceeding from, as from a parent; derived, as from an ancestor.

























A profectitious curse had made him king of it all
When all he'd ever wanted was to be something fun
A journalist writing gossip and culinary columns


The background picture was put on line by Willow (Tess) of Willow Manor, as a writing prompt.
Join the writing fun at Magpie Tales.

Brawn

BRAWN

— noun
1. strong well-developed muscles
2. physical strength, especially as opposed to intelligence
3. ( Brit ) a seasoned jellied loaf made from the head and sometimes the feet of a pig or calf























Autumn jewel
Capturing feasts of a hog that's past
Brawn.

Fugue

FUGUE

-noun
1. A musical form in which a theme is repeated in several voices and developed into a complex pattern.
2. A pathological state of consciousness in which someone appears to be conscious of one's actions but has no memory of them after returning to a normal state.























Their fugue-like antics
Is a clear mark of feline minds
Prone to fugue and non sequitur.

Braird

BRAIRD

-verb
1. To sprout; appear above the ground.
-noun
1. The first sprouts or shoots of grass, corn, or other crops; new growth.























A lost battle for clean surfaces:
Graffiti brairding on walls
At the first sign of humanity.

Metaphrastic

METAPHRASTIC

-adj.
Having the quality of a literary work that has been translated or changed from one form to another, as prose into verse.



Lost poems
Found poems
Metaphrastic reality

Detail

DETAIL

-noun
1. an individual or minute part; an item or particular.
2. particulars collectively; minutiae.
3. attention to or treatment of a subject in individual or minute parts.
4. intricate, finely wrought decoration.
5. Engineering . detail drawing.
6. any small section of a larger structure or whole, considered as a unit.
7. Military .
a. an appointment or assignment, as of a small group or an officer, for a special task.
b. the party or person so selected.
c. a particular assignment of duty.
8. the property of an image or of a method of image production to make small, closely spaced image elements individually distinguishable.
-verb (used with object)
9. to relate or report with complete particulars; tell fully and distinctly.
10.to mention one by one; specify; list.
11 Military . to appoint or assign for some particular duty.
12.to provide with intricate, finely wrought decoration























The devil is in the details indeed
That's where the most fun is to be had.

Accedie

ACCEDIE

-noun
spiritual sloth; apathy; indifference
Also: Acedia























Some days
I look upon the world
With nothing
But accedie

Ustulate

USTULATE

-adj.
1. coloured or blackened as if scorched.
-verb (used with object)
2. Obsolete . to burn; sear; scorch.























Eaten by worms
Ustulate and tormented
Pity follows him
If not glory.

Flavedo

FLAVEDO

-noun
the outer coloured layer of a citrus fruit























Flavedo:
Not named thus for flavour
But for Latin
Despite the taste

Junto

JUNTO

-noun
a self-appointed committee, especially with political aims; cabal. Also: Junta























A furry junto
Ready to pounce
Demanding cuddles

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