Terrene

TERRENE
[teh-REEN, TER-een]

-adj.
Relating to the earth; earthly; worldly; mundane.

























Terrene remains
Saints and sinners
Mixed up by time
And the folly of man.

Circinate

CIRCINATE

-adj.
1. made round; ring-shaped.
2. Botany, Mycology . rolled up on the axis at the apex, as a leaf or fruiting body.























Cappelletti;
Making pasta
As circinate art.

Pale

PALE

-adj.
1. lacking intensity of colour; colourless or whitish.
2. of a low degree of chroma, saturation, or purity; approaching white or grey.
3. not bright or brilliant; dim.
4. faint or feeble; lacking vigour.
-verb (used without object), verb (used with object)
5. to make or become pale

-noun
1. a stake or picket, as of a fence.
2. an enclosing or confining barrier; enclosure.
3. an enclosed area.
4. limits; bounds.
5. a district or region within designated bounds.
6. ( initial capital letter ) Also called English Pale, Irish Pale. a district in eastern Ireland included in the Angevin Empire of King Henry II and his successors.
7. an ordinary in the form of a broad vertical stripe at the centre of an escutcheon.
8. Shipbuilding . a shore used inside to support the deck beams of a hull under construction.
-verb (used with object)
9. to enclose with pales; fence.
10.to encircle or encompass.



Here
Each shadow
Watch over its pale

Redound

REDOUND

-verb (used without object)
1. to have a good or bad effect or result, as to the advantage or disadvantage of a person or thing.
2. to result or accrue, as to a person.
3. to come back or reflect upon a person as to honour or disgrace (usually followed by "on" or "upon").























An angel
Redounds upon their fall
Glowing in the rain

Frondescence

FRONDESCENCE
[fron-DES-uhns]

-noun
1. Leafage; foliage.
2. The process or period of putting forth leaves, as a tree, plant, or the like.























Flowers and frondescences
Meet with fruits in a warm cup.
This sounds like the start of a joke.

Abide

ABIDE

-verb (used without object)
1. to remain; continue; stay.
2. to have one's abode; dwell; reside.
3. to continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship, etc.; last.
-verb (used with object)
4. to put up with; tolerate; stand.
5. to endure, sustain, or withstand without yielding or submitting.
6. to wait for; await.
7. to accept without opposition or question.
8. to pay the price or penalty of; suffer for.























I shall abide
In our abode
But only abide this much
That love excuses

Staunch

STAUNCH
[stawnch, stahnch]

—verb
1. to stem the flow of (a liquid, especially blood) or (of a liquid) to stop flowing
2. to prevent the flow of a liquid, especially blood, from (a hole, wound, etc)
3. an archaic word for assuage
—noun
4. a primitive form of lock in which boats are carried over shallow parts of a river in a rush of water released by the lock
ALSo: stanch

























A broken cup
Liquid quickly staunched
Our lives so frail

Axil

AXIL
[ak-sil]

-noun
the angle between the upper surface of a branch or leafstalk and the stem from which it grows



Dreamers and botanists
Can lose themselves
In the study of axils
And their potential implications.

Verbena

VERBENA
[ver-bee-nuh]

-noun
1. any of various plants of the genus Verbena, especially any of several hybrid species cultivated for their showy flower clusters.
2. any of various other plants, as the lemon verbena or sand verbena.

























Fragile and fragrant
Letters of verbena
Promising warmth and tea.

Nictitate

NICTITATE
[nik-ti-teyt]

-verb (used without object)
to blink or wink
Also - nictate



She's got this
Special something
A wicked way
Of nictitating
That infuriates me.

Bract

BRACT

-noun
a specialized leaf, usually smaller than the foliage leaves, with a single flower or inflorescence growing in its axil

























"Take me in your bracts"
Cries rain to the flower
"Never ever let me go"

Crosier

CROSIER
[kroh-zher]

-noun
1. a ceremonial staff carried by a bishop or an abbot, hooked at one end like a shepherd's crook.
2. Botany . the circinate young frond of a fern.




Hunting for a metaphoric crosier
I become mesmerized by convoluted words instead.


Crozier shadow appears courtesy of bpende at Flickr.

Awn

AWN
[awn]

-noun Botany .
1. a bristle-like appendage of a plant, especially on the glumes of grasses.
2. such appendages collectively, as those forming the beard of wheat, barley, etc.
3. any similar bristle.




He was prickly
Too much awn on his cheeks
But then when I complained
He reminded me of how much
We had relished our roll
In the awns last spring.

Obloquy

OBLOQUY

-noun
1. censure, blame, or abusive language aimed at a person or thing, especially by numerous persons or by the general public.
2. discredit, disgrace, or bad repute resulting from public blame, abuse, or denunciation.























I won't stone you
Regardless of the ambient obloquy
Despite the fact that weapons abound
For who am I to judge?

Palladium

PALLADIUM
[puh-ley-dee-uhm]

-noun
1. Also, Pal·la·di·on  [puh-ley-dee-on] a statue of Athena, especially one on the citadel of Troy on which the safety of the city was supposed to depend.
2. ( usually lowercase ) anything believed to provide protection or safety; safeguard.

-noun
1.a ductile malleable silvery-white element of the platinum metal group occurring principally in nickel-bearing ores: used as a hydrogenation catalyst and, alloyed with gold, in jewellery.

























Watch tower
Awkward palladium
Where are those stairs leading to?

Pepper

PEPPER

-noun
1. a pungent condiment obtained from various plants of the genus Piper, especially from the dried berries, used whole or ground, of the tropical climbing shrub P. nigrum.
2. any plant of the genus Piper.
3. any of several plants of the genus Capsicum, especially C. annuum, cultivated in many varieties, or C. frutescens.
4. the usually green or red fruit of any of these plants, ranging from mild to very pungent in flavor.
5. the pungent seeds of several varieties of C. annuum or C. frutescens, used ground or whole as a condiment.
-verb (used with object)
6. to season with or as if with pepper.
7. to sprinkle or cover, as if with pepper; dot.
8. to sprinkle like pepper.
9.to hit with rapidly repeated short jabs.
10.to pelt with or as if with shot or missiles.
11.to discharge (shot or missiles) at something.

























Unlikely companions
Vanilla and green pepper
Blended in alliance
To confound your senses.

Eidolon

EIDOLON
[ahy-doh-luhn]

-noun
1. a phantom; apparition.
2. an ideal.




Velvet eidolon
Scaring visitors
With loud purrs

Aghast

AGHAST
[uh-gast, uh-gahst]

-adj.
struck with overwhelming shock or amazement; filled with sudden fright or horror

























Aghast,
We cried on the corpse
Before looking for murderers.
They smiled
Teeth full of feathers.

Quip

QUIP
[kwip]

-noun
1. a clever or witty remark or comment.
2. a sharp, sarcastic remark; a cutting jest.
3. a quibble.
4. an odd or fantastic action or thing.
verb (used without object)
5. to utter quips.

























Here even the walls smile,
Enjoy a quip or two.
Pedestrians ignore them.

Teratology

TERATOLOGY
[ter-uh-tol-uh-jee]

-noun Biology.
the science or study of monstrosities or abnormal formations in organisms.

























Teratology turned art
Or was it art that started it?
Discovered the attraction,
The pull of monsters?

Faldage

FALDAGE

-noun
A privilege of setting up, and moving about, folds for sheep, in any fields within manors, in order to manure them; often reserved to himself by the lord of the manor.























Passing through vineyards
By antic right of faldage
Flocks of sheep and dogs

Epigone

EPIGONE
[ep-i-gohn]

-noun
an undistinguished imitator, follower, or successor of an important writer, painter, etc.



And who am I
But an epigone?


Background picture obtained with PhotoFunia

Moil

MOIL
[moil]

-verb (used without object)
1. to work hard; drudge.
2. to whirl or churn ceaselessly; twist; eddy.
-verb (used with object)
3. Archaic. to wet or smear.
-noun
4. hard work or drudgery.
5. confusion, turmoil, or trouble.
6. Glassmaking. a superfluous piece of glass formed during blowing and removed in the finishing operation.
7. Mining. a short hand tool with a polygonal point, used for breaking or prying out rock.

























Dough making
Requires a good dose of moiling
As well as time.

Lich

LICH
[lich]

-noun British Obsolete.
1. the body; the trunk.
2. a dead body; corpse.



Poor lich,
Such stress!
But, wait:
He's purring still.

Integument

INTEGUMENT
[in-teg-yuh-muhnt]

-noun
1. a natural covering, as a skin, shell, or rind.
2. any covering, coating, enclosure, etc.

























A new colour
Rust brought in
On the wings of pollution
Red integument

Lyard

LYARD
[LAHY-erd]

-adj.
Streaked or spotted with gray or white.

























Lyard windshield
No frost flowers for me.

Caduke

CADUKE


-adj.
Perishable; frail; transitory.



A moment of confusion
Is it that late already?
Caduke time.

Murmur

MURMUR
[mur-mer]

-noun
1. a low, continuous sound, as of a brook, the wind, or trees, or of low, indistinct voices.
2. a mumbled or private expression of discontent.
3. Also called heart murmur. Medicine/Medical.
a. an abnormal sound heard on listening to the heart, usually through a stethoscope, produced by the blood passing through deformed cardiac valves.
b. in some persons a similar sound heard when blood passes through normal valves.
4. Phonetics. a voice quality in which vibration of the vocal cords is accompanied by the escape of a great deal of air, as in the (h) of ahead; breathy voice.
-verb (used without object)
5. to make a low or indistinct sound, especially continuously.
6. to speak in a low tone or indistinctly.
7. to complain in a low tone or in private.
-verb (used with object)
8. to sound by murmurs.
9. to utter in a low tone




A murmur
So soft
So tender
To the ear
A murmur
Can murder
A heart
If displaced
Or malicious

Forficate

FORFICATE
[FOR-fi-kit, kayt]

-adj.
Deeply forked.

























Beyond forficate
Into a maze
A fractured world
For fractured times

Groat

GROAT
[groht]

-noun
a silver coin of England, equal to four pennies, issued from 1279 to 1662.

-Plural noun - groats
1. the hulled and crushed grain of oats, wheat, or certain other cereals
2. the parts of oat kernels, buckwheat, or barley used as food























Playing around with groats
You could make a few groats
If it wasn't for time delay
And caducity.

Purr

PURR
[pur]

-verb (used without object)
1. to utter a low, continuous, murmuring sound expressive of contentment or pleasure, as a cat does.
2. (of things) to make a sound suggestive of the purring of a cat.
-verb (used with object)
3. to express by or as if by purring.
-noun
4. the low, vibrating sound made by a cat by the contracting of the laryngeal muscles and the diaphragm as it breathes.
5. a sound resembling this.
6. the act of purring.























She purrs so
Loud and clear
A little hand trap
Luring you closer
Bound to her will

Fever

FEVER
[fee-ver]

-noun
1. an abnormal condition of the body, characterized by undue rise in temperature, quickening of the pulse, and disturbance of various body functions.
2. an abnormally high body temperature.
3. the number of degrees of such a temperature above the normal.
4. any of a group of diseases in which high temperature is a prominent symptom.
5. intense nervous excitement.
-verb (used with object)
6. to affect with or as with fever



Treading the file line
Between imagination and hypochondria
Fever could easily transform me
In a dead piece of wood.

Occult

OCCULT
[uh-kuhlt, ok-uhlt]

-adj.
1. of or pertaining to magic, astrology, or any system claiming use or knowledge of secret or supernatural powers or agencies.
2. beyond the range of ordinary knowledge or understanding; mysterious.
3. secret; disclosed or communicated only to the initiated.
4. hidden from view.
5. (in early science)
a. not apparent on mere inspection but discoverable by experimentation.
b. of a nature not understood, as physical qualities.
c. dealing with such qualities; experimental: occult science.
6. Medicine/Medical. present in amounts too small to be visible
-noun
7. the supernatural or supernatural agencies and affairs considered as a whole (usually preceded by "the").
8. occult studies or sciences (usually preceded by "the").
-verb (used with object)
9. to block or shut off (an object) from view; hide.
10.Astronomy. to hide (a celestial body) by occultation.
-verb (used without object)
11.to become hidden or shut off from view.




Anamorphic frescoes
Occulted by a point of view
Isn’t everything else as well?

Zoetrope

ZOETROPE
[zoh-ee-trohp]
-noun
a device for giving an illusion of motion, consisting of a slitted drum that, when whirled, shows a succession of images placed opposite the slits within the drum as one moving image.

























Shadows and light
Life's binary code
Zoetrope progress

Bathos

BATHOS
[bey-thos, -thaws, -thohs]

-noun
1. a ludicrous descent from the exalted or lofty to the commonplace; anticlimax.
2. insincere pathos; sentimentality; mawkishness.
3. triteness or triviality in style.



Too often is funeral art
Rife with bathos.
Angels still delight.

Naught

NAUGHT
[nawt]

-noun
1. nothing.
2. a cipher (0); zero.
-adj.
3. lost; ruined.
4. Archaic. worthless; useless.
5. Obsolete. morally bad; wicked.
-adv.
6. Obsolete. not.
ALSO: nought



Her mouth a perfect naught
Naught, devoured by time.

Wither

WITHER
[with-er]

-verb (used without object)
1. to shrivel; fade; decay.
2. to lose the freshness of youth, as from age (often followed by “away”).



October jewels
Offered by withered hands
Late raspberries

Quisle

QUISLE
[KWIZ-uhl]

-verb intr.
To betray, especially by collaborating with an enemy.























Could those soft ears,
This fluffy head quisle?
Yes.
Mind your hands.

Deter

DETER
[dih-tur]

-verb (used with object)
1. to discourage or restrain from acting or proceeding.
2. to prevent; check; arrest

























Deter
It does not:
Deers
and
Bears
Can't read

Ferly

FERLY
[FER-lee]

-noun
1. Something unusual, strange, or causing wonder or terror.
2. Astonishment; wonder.
-adj.
1. Unexpected; strange; unusual.

























In most unexpected places
Ferly creatures roam
Ready to puzzle or to spook

Auricular

AURICULAR
[aw-rik-yuh-ler]

-adj.
1. of or pertaining to the ear or to the sense of hearing; aural.
2. perceived by or addressed to the ear; made in private.
3. dependent on hearing; understood or known by hearing.
4. shaped like an ear; auriculate.
5. Anatomy. pertaining to an auricle of the heart.
6. Ornithology. pertaining to certain often modified feathers that cover and protect the opening of a bird's ear.



Morning,
Dropping auricular hints
Of sky's love affair with pink:
The signals are differents

Anosmia

ANOSMIA

-noun
the loss of the sense of smell, either total or partial. May be caused by head injury, infection, or blockage of the nose.



Fits of anosmia
First signs of cold

See

SEE

-verb (used with object)
1. to perceive with the eyes; look at.
2. to view; visit or attend as a spectator: to see a play.
3. to perceive by means of computer vision.
4. to scan or view, especially by electronic means.
5. to perceive (things) mentally; discern; understand
6. to construct a mental image of; visualize.
7. to accept or imagine or suppose as acceptable.
8. to be cognizant of; recognize.
9. to foresee.
10.to ascertain, learn, or find out.
11.to have knowledge or experience of.
12.to make sure.
13.to meet and converse with.
14.to receive as a visitor.
15.to visit.
16.to court, keep company with, or date frequently.
17.to provide aid or assistance to; take care of.
18.to attend or escort.
19.Cards. to match (a bet) or match the bet of (a bettor) by staking an equal sum; call.
20.to prefer (someone or something) to be as indicated (usually used as a mild oath).
21.to read or read about
-verb (used without object)
22.to have the power of sight.
23.to be capable of perceiving by means of computer vision.
24.to understand intellectually or spiritually; have insight.
25.to give attention or care.
26.to find out; make inquiry.
27.to consider; think; deliberate.
28.to look about; observe

-noun
Ecclesiastical. the seat, center of authority, office, or jurisdiction of a bishop



See the see
and reconsider

Diabatic

DIABATIC
[dahy-uh-bat-ik]

-adj.
occurring with an exchange of heat























Diabatic magic
Wrecking the oven
With sheer delight

Soporose

SOPOROSE
(SOP-uh-ros)

-adj.
Sleepy; in an unusually deep sleep.



Soporose cat:
An almost
Redundant adjective.

Flagitious

FLAGITIOUS
[fluh-jish-uhs]

-adj.
1. shamefully wicked, as persons, actions, or times.
2. heinous or flagrant, as a crime; infamous.



Errant space hermit,
Flagitious elder god crawls
From vacant soul to vacant soul
Into empty craniums
Living off sanity shreds
Humming itself to sleep.

Coeval

COEVAL
[koh-ee-vuhl]

-adj.
1. of the same age, date, or duration; equally old.
2. coincident:
-noun
3. a contemporary

























I have problems believing
This creature and I are truly coeval
Yet her spirit lives in me still
Despite many more wrinkles.


Picture (c) René Beudin 1969

Eversion

EVERSION

-noun
a turning or being turned outward or inside out.























Behold
Exploding
Pomegranate
Eversion
Motion

Pandect

PANDECT
[pan-dekt]

-noun
1. a treatise covering all aspects of a particular subject
2. ( often plural ) the complete body of laws of a country; legal code



Good old pandects
Unusable nowadays
Victims of caducity.