Scabrous

SCABROUS

—adj.
1. roughened because of small projections; scaly
2. indelicate, indecent, or salacious
3. difficult to deal with; knotty



She turns and turns
Scaling the scabrous landscape
In search for a nest
Spring beckons

Grime

GRIME

—noun
1. dirt, soot, or filth, especially when thickly accumulated or ingrained
2. a genre of music originating in the East End of London and combining elements of garage, hip-hop, rap, and jungle
—verb (trans.)
3. to make dirty or coat with filth

























With centuries and rain
Grime has accumulated
Turning gutters into gardens
Yet still pissing springtime
Over the pavement

Grotesque

GROTESQUE

-adj.
1. strangely or fantastically distorted; bizarre
2. of or characteristic of the grotesque in art
3. absurdly incongruous; in a ludicrous context
-noun
4. a 16th-century decorative style in which parts of human, animal, and plant forms are distorted and mixed
5. a decorative device, as in painting or sculpture, in this style
6. printing the family of 19th-century sans serif display types
7. any grotesque person or thing

























Your face
And limbs turning
You disappear in shadows
Changing to a grotesque
An effect of light
Or lack thereof
Darkness defining you better
Than harsh light
And reality

Moon

MOON

—noun
1. the earth's natural satellite, orbiting the earth at a mean distance of 238,857 miles (384,393 km) and having a diameter of 2160 miles (3476 km).
2. this body during a particular lunar month, or during a certain period of time, or at a certain point of time, regarded as a distinct object or entity.
3. a lunar month, or, in general, a month.
4. any planetary satellite.
5. something shaped like an orb or a crescent.
6. moonlight.
7. a platyfish.
8. Slang . the buttocks, especially when bared.
-verb (used without object)
9. to act or wander abstractedly or listlessly.
10.to sentimentalize or remember nostalgically.
11.to gaze dreamily or sentimentally at something or someone.
12.Slang . to expose one's buttocks suddenly and publicly as a prank or gesture of disrespect.
—verb (used with object)
13. to spend (time) idly
14. to illuminate by or align against the moon.
15. Slang . to expose one's buttocks to as a prank or gesture of disrespect.



It's a moon day!
A moon day!
And I intend to spend it
Mooning about!

Tyromancy

TYROMANCY

-noun
Obsolete, a form of divination involving observation of cheese, especially as it coagulates.

























I try my hand,
Mouth and palate
At tyromancy
Only predicting
Cholesterol excess
And obesity

Craven

CRAVEN

—adj.
1. cowardly; mean-spirited
—noun
2. a coward

























Far from me
The idea of calling him
A craven
But he's a nervous cat
Indeed.

Predilection

PREDILECTION

—noun
a predisposition, preference, or bias

























Here
Everywhere,
My predilection for red wine
Is telling

inhere

INHERE

—verb
(followed by "in") to be an inseparable part (of)

























Chocolate mousse
Inhering in hearts?
Or the other way around?

Whiffle

WHIFFLE

-verb (used without object)
1. to blow in light or shifting gusts or puffs, as the wind; veer or toss about irregularly.
2. to shift about; vacillate; be fickle.
-verb (used with object)
3. to blow with light, shifting gusts.



Clouds crowd in
Whiffled by a breeze
Or born of curiosity?

Cardinal

CARDINAL

—noun
1. Roman Catholic Church any of the members of the Sacred College, ranking next after the pope, who elect the pope and act as his chief counsellors
2. Also called: cardinal red a deep vivid red colour
3. Cardinal number
4. Cardinal grosbeak , also called: redbird . a crested North American bunting, Richmondena (or Pyrrhuloxia ) cardinalis, the male of which has a bright red plumage and the female a brown one
5. a fritillary butterfly, Pandoriana pandora, found in meadows of southern Europe
6. a woman's hooded shoulder cape worn in the 17th and 18th centuries
— adj
7. (usually prenominal) fundamentally important; principal.
8. of a deep vivid red colour
9. astrology . mutable



A gaggle of Dalis looks out
From the brightness of cardinal
Poking eyes out on the way

Contingent

CONTINGENT

-adj.
1. dependent for existence, occurrence, character, etc., on something not yet certain; conditional (often followed by "on" or "upon").
2. liable to happen or not; uncertain; possible.
3. happening by chance or without known cause; fortuitous; accidental.
4. Logic . (of a proposition) neither logically necessary nor logically impossible, so that its truth or falsity can be established only by sensory observation.
-noun
5. a quota of troops furnished.
6. any one of the representative groups composing an assemblage.
7. the proportion that falls to one as a share to be contributed or furnished.
8. a possible or chance occurrence























While frost is still contingent
The almond tree blooms all the same
To spite the elements

Grate

GRATE

-noun
1. a frame of metal bars for holding fuel when burning, as in a fireplace, furnace, or stove.
2. a framework of parallel or crossed bars, used as a partition, guard, cover, or the like; grating.
3. a fireplace.
-verb (used with object)
4. to furnish with a grate or grates.

-verb (used without object)
1. to have an irritating or unpleasant effect.
2. to make a sound of, or as if of, rough scraping; rasp.
3. to sound harshly; jar.
4. to scrape or rub with rough or noisy friction, as one thing on or against another.
-verb (used with object)
5. to reduce to small particles by rubbing against a rough surface or a surface with many sharp-edged openings.
6. to rub together with a harsh, jarring sound.
7. to irritate or annoy.
8. Archaic . to wear down or away by rough friction.

























Grated root celery
Rustic mustard
A dollop of mayonnaise
Lemon juice
A spoon of oil
My own version of “céléri rémoulade”.

Calefacient

CALEFACIENT

—adj
1. causing warmth
—noun
2. obsolete medical . an agent that warms, such as a mustard plaster























Nothing better
For body and soul
A calefacient cat

Exaction

EXACT

—adj.
1. correct in every detail; strictly accurate
2. precise, as opposed to approximate; neither more nor less
3. (prenominal ) specific; particular
4. operating with very great precision
5. allowing no deviation from a standard; rigorous; strict
6. based mainly on measurement and the formulation of laws, as opposed to description and classification
—verb
7. to force or compel (payment or performance); extort
8. to demand as a right; insist upon
9. to call for or require



Spring exacts blooms from the trees
Forcing them out in the frigid air
To fight for the lives of their cells
And to tempt drowsy insects with a sip

Flexuous

FLEXUOUS

—adj.
1. full of bends or curves; winding
2. variable; unsteady



Snaking up the sky
A flexuous cloud

Rill

RILL

—noun
1. a brook or stream; rivulet
2. a small channel or gulley, such as one formed during soil erosion
3. Also: rille . one of many winding cracks on the moon

























Traces on your face
Rills formed by tears
Or dried up years
A map of chaos and flavours

Neritic

NERITIC

—adj.
of or formed in the region of shallow seas near a coastline




My dreams at low tide
Neritic swamps where ideas drown
A few pebbles shining through silt.

Dysphonia

DYSPHONIA

—noun
any impairment in the ability to speak normally, as from spasm or strain of the vocal cords

























The old record
Grates and jumps
Paralysed by dysphonia

Ruck

RUCK

—noun
1. a large number or quantity; mass, especially of ordinary or undistinguished people or things
2. (in a race) a group of competitors who are well behind the leaders at the finish
3. rugby a loose scrum that forms around the ball when it is on the ground
4. Australian rules football the three players, two ruckmen and a rover, that do not have fixed positions but follow the ball closely
—verb (intr.)
5. rugby to try to win the ball by advancing over it when it is on the ground, driving opponents backward in the process

—noun
1. a wrinkle, crease, or fold
—verb
2. (usually followed by "up") to become or make wrinkled, creased, or puckered

—noun
prison slang . a fight

—noun
slang military . a rucksack

























Rucked ravioli
Are water-tight

Dysphoria

DYSPHORIA

-noun
Pathology . a state of dissatisfaction, anxiety, restlessness, or fidgeting.

























Up in the branches
This little cat
Trembles with dysphoria
And outrage

Obtain

OBTAIN

-verb (used with object)
1. to come into possession of; get, acquire, or procure, as through an effort or by a request.
2. Obsolete . to attain or reach.
-verb (used without object)
3. to be prevalent, customary, or in vogue; prevail.
4. Archaic . to succeed.

























The day the ocean retreated
Dismay and pandemonium obtained
Flipping corpses over the bed rock
Left to dry and rot away.

Bespeak

BESPEAK

-verb (used with object)
1. to ask for in advance.
2. to reserve beforehand; engage in advance; make arrangements for.
3. Literary . to speak to; address.
4. to show; indicate.
5. Obsolete . to foretell; forebode.

























A chilled robin
Bespeaks a slice of spring
And a welcoming nest

Intercalary

INTERCALARY

— adj
1. (of a day, month, etc) inserted in the calendar
2. (of a particular year) having one or more days inserted
3. inserted, introduced, or interpolated
4. botany growing between the upper branches and the lower branches or bracts on a stem

























We stumble
Upon intercalary days
Confusing our calculations
Weeks in shambles

Wen

WEN

-noun
1. Pathology . a benign encysted tumor of the skin, especially on the scalp, containing sebaceous matter; a sebaceous cyst.
2. British . a large, crowded city or a crowded urban district.

-noun
Also Wynn . a character (ƿ) representing the sound (w) in Old English and early Middle English manuscripts, based on a rune with the same phonetic value.



In dusk,
The Eternal Wen fades
Leaving traces of pollution
And a single forlorn fin
Another abandoned site
Ready to turn ruin.

Malevolent

MALEVOLENT

-adj.
1. wishing evil or harm to another or others; showing ill will; ill-disposed; malicious.
2. evil; harmful; injurious.
3. Astrology . evil or malign in influence.

























Regardless of our wishes
And despite incantations
The flowers refused to open
Gaudy but malevolent parcels
Threatening to explode
At the slightest touch.

Dole

DOLE

-noun
1. a portion or allotment of money, food, etc., especially as given at regular intervals by a charity or for maintenance.
2. a dealing out or distributing, especially in charity.
3. a form of payment to the unemployed instituted by the British government in 1918.
4. any similar payment by a government to an unemployed person.
5. Archaic . one's fate or destiny.
-verb (used with object)
6. to distribute in charity.
7. to give out sparingly or in small quantities (usually followed by "out")

-noun
Archaic . grief or sorrow; lamentation.

























We dole out pasta
For Sunday lunch
Making up for lack of proteins
With nuts and cheese

Cordate

CORDATE


-adj.
1. Heart-shaped.
2. (Of leaves) heart-shaped, with the attachment at the notched end.

























We all fall
For cordate pink noses
And a set of whiskers.

Surly

SURLY

-adj.
1. churlishly rude or bad-tempered.
2. unfriendly or hostile; menacingly irritable
3. dark or dismal; menacing; threatening:
4. Obsolete . lordly; arrogant.




His was a surly story
Of abandon and betrayal
So he faded into the background
Until all was left on him
Belonged to the realm of pareidolia

Paramnesia

PARAMNESIA

-noun
1. Psychiatry . a distortion of memory in which fact and fantasy are confused.
2. the inability to recall the correct meaning of a word.



Like a sea forgetting water
My memory struggles with paramnesia
Desert growing every day

Burly

BURLY

-adj.
1. large in bodily size; stout; sturdy.
2. bluff; brusque



What burly alien
Has left its mark
At the threshold of sky?

Blither

BLITHER

-verb (used without object)
to talk foolishly; blather

























Howling at the moon
Versifying blither
Instead of keeping silent
In awe.

Crust

CRUST

-noun
1. the brown, hard outer portion or surface of a loaf or slice of bread.
2. a slice of bread from the end of a loaf, consisting chiefly of this.
3. the pastry covering the outside of a pie or other dish.
4. a piece of stale bread.
5. any more or less hard external covering or coating.
6. Geology . the outer layer of the earth, about 22 miles (35 km) deep under the continents and 6 miles (10 km) deep under the oceans.
7. a scab or eschar.
8. Slang . unabashed self-assertiveness; nerve; gall.
9. deposit from wine, as it ripens during aging, on the interior of bottles, consisting of tartar and colouring matter.
10.the hard outer shell or covering of an animal.
-verb (used with object)
12.to cover with or as with a crust; encrust.
13.to form (something) into a crust.
-verb (used without object)
14.to form or contract a crust.
15.to form into a crust.

























Sunday crust
Fresh out of the oven
Bringing us together.

Insist

INSIST

-verb (used without object)
1. to be emphatic, firm, or resolute on some matter of desire, demand, intention, etc.
2. to lay emphasis in assertion
3. to dwell with earnestness or emphasis (usually followed by "on" or "upon").
-verb (used with object)
4. to assert or maintain firmly.
5. to demand or persist in demanding.























She insists
That she's been invited
Into our home
And must be let in
At all costs.

Homily

HOMILY

-noun
1. a sermon, usually on a Biblical topic and usually of a non doctrinal nature.
2. an admonitory or moralizing discourse.
3. an inspirational saying or cliché.























They come through the mail
Pretty homilies with sunsets
Forwarded in return for happiness
Discarded unopened

Fustian

FUSTIAN

-noun
1. a stout fabric of cotton and flax.
2. a fabric of stout twilled cotton or of cotton and low-quality wool, with a short nap or pile.
3. pompous or pretentious talk or writing
—adj.
4. cheap; worthless
5. pompous; bombastic























Fustian epistles
Flapping in the wind
Gathering rust

Screed

SCREED

-noun
1. a long discourse or essay, especially a diatribe.
2. an informal letter, account, or other piece of writing.
3. Building Trades .
a. a strip of plaster or wood applied to a surface to be plastered to serve as a guide for making a true surface.
b. a wooden strip serving as a guide for making a true level surface on a concrete pavement or the like.
c. a board or metal strip dragged across a freshly poured concrete slab to give it its proper level.
4. British Dialect . a fragment or shred, as of cloth.
5. Scot.
a. a tear or rip, especially in cloth.
b. a drinking bout.



In the depth of our screed
We encounter torn universes
Fraying legends scented with must
Unravelling screeds

Otiose

OTIOSE
[oh-shee-ohs, oh-tee-ohs]

-adj.
1. being at leisure; idle; indolent.
2. ineffective or futile.
3. superfluous or useless.

























Otiose white
Against otiose struggles
Nature wins over cars

Admit

ADMIT

-verb (used with object)
1. to allow to enter; grant or afford entrance to.
2. to give right or means of entrance to.
3. to permit to exercise a certain function or privilege.
4. to permit; allow.
5. to allow or concede as valid.
6. to acknowledge; confess..: The fact is admitted.
8. to have capacity for:
-verb (used without object)
9. to permit entrance; give access.
10.to grant opportunity or permission (usually followed by "of")























We admit winter in our midst
Clenching teeth and lips
Hoping for a quick release
And spring

Indulgence

INDULGENCE

-noun
1. the act of indulging or state of being indulgent
2. a pleasure, habit, etc, indulged in; extravagance.
3. liberal or tolerant treatment
4. something granted as a favour or privilege
5. Roman Catholic Church a remission of the temporal punishment for sin after its guilt has been forgiven
6. commerce an extension of time granted as a favour for payment of a debt or as fulfilment of some other obligation
7. Also called: Declaration of Indulgence a royal grant during the reigns of Charles II and James II of England giving Nonconformists and Roman Catholics a measure of religious freedom
8. Commerce . an extension, through favour, of time for payment or performance.
-verb (used with object)
9. Roman Catholic Church . to provide with an indulgence.

























Sunday indulgence
Need not involve a priest,
Although Bacchus is invited

Sciamachy

SCIAMACHY
[sahy-am-uh-kee]

-noun
an act or instance of fighting a shadow or an imaginary enemy.

























The art of sciamachy
Is what cats are all about
In their dreams
And in their lives
Chasing tails and tales.

Wastrel

WASTREL

-noun
1. a wasteful person; spendthrift.
2. Chiefly British .
a. refuse; waste.
b. a waif; abandoned child.
c. an idler or vagabond

























Over the weekend,
The street filled with wastrels
Looking for a little attention
A ray of sunshine

Transpicuous

TRANSPICUOUS

-adj.
a less common word for transparent



My world is prisoner
Of a transpicuous life form
Cold and unyielding

Neoterism

NEOTERISM

-noun
1. An innovation in language, as a new word, term, or expression.
2. The use of new words, terms, or expressions.



How dearly I love an author
Who constructs clever neoterism
New toys to play with

Dybbuk

DYBBUCK

-noun
Judaism (in the folklore of the cabala) the soul of a dead sinner that has transmigrated into the body of a living person

























I ran over an ex lover
(on purpose)
But he turned dybbuck and
Cried iced tears all over my car.
Mister Frost.

Sibyl

SIBYL

-noun
1. (in ancient Greece and Rome) any of a number of women believed to be oracles or prophetesses, one of the most famous being the sibyl of Cumae, who guided Aeneas through the underworld
2. a witch, fortune-teller, or sorceress

























When Christianity took over this land
The old sibyls turned into olive trees
Forecasting winter at Candlemas

Educe

EDUCE

-verb (used with object)
1. to draw forth or bring out, as something potential or latent; elicit; develop.
2. to infer or deduce.



One could educe
From the amount of food picture
In my portfolio
That I like food.
Elementary.
Alimentary.

Argosy

ARGOSY

-noun
1. A large ship, or a fleet of ships, especially one carrying valuable cargo.
2. A rich source or supply.

























An argosy unto herself
She shelters a cargo of kittens
Or it is just fat?

Natheless

NATHELESS

—adv.
1. another word for nonetheless

—prep
2. notwithstanding; despite



Gloom rolls in
The day starts
Natheless

Nugatory

NUGATORY

-adj.
1. of no real value; trifling; worthless.
2. of no force or effect; ineffective; futile; vain.
3. not valid.



Nugatory efforts
To fight digestive problems
Unfazed by bubbles

Selvage

SELVAGE

-noun
1. the edge of woven fabric finished so as to prevent ravelling, often in a narrow tape effect, different from the body of the fabric.
2. any similar strip or part of surplus material, as at the side of wallpaper.
3. Also called margin. Philately . the surplus paper or margin around a sheet of stamps.
4. a plate or surface through which a bolt of a lock passes.



I keep my life in selvage
Hoping this will keep it
From unravelling.