Revere

REVERE

-verb

(trans.) to be in awe of and respect deeply; venerate

She departed early

Revering strange gods

That would carry her away

To the serene islands

Of life after death

Latke

LATKE

-noun

(in Jewish cookery) a fried potato pancake

Some sort of latke

Rolled-up and filled

Ready for anything

Supervise

SUPERVISE

-verb (trans.)

1. to direct or oversee the performance or operation of

2. to watch over so as to maintain order, etc.

Supervising the tourist crowds

Looking for victims, volunteers

In the cuddle provision area

Minaudiere

MINAUDIERE

[ˌmiːnəʊˈdjɛə]

-noun

(fashion) a small, handle-less bag usually carried by a woman as an accessory for formal wear

My evenings and travels

Require no minaudiere

But sturdy ample bags

That break my spine

Like a much loved book

Debate

DEBATE

-noun

1. a formal discussion, as in a legislative body, in which opposing arguments are put forward

2. discussion or dispute

3. the formal presentation and opposition of a specific motion, followed by a vote

-verb

4. to discuss (a motion), especially in a formal assembly

5. to deliberate upon (something)

Sealed in marble

A faceless debate

About who pays the bill

For the double funeral

Ordain

ORDAIN

-verb (trans.)

1. to consecrate (someone) as a priest; confer holy orders upon

2. (may take a clause as object) . to decree, appoint, or predestine irrevocably

3. (may take a clause as object) . to order, establish, or enact with authority

4. (obsolete) to select for an office

Murder

Ordained by law

Or love

Unconquered beast

Debut

DEBUT

-noun

1. the first public appearance of an actor, musician, etc., or the first public presentation of a show

2. the presentation of a debutante

-verb (intr.)

3. to make a debut

In such green slush

Spring makes its debut

Petals soon forgotten

To the winds and rain

Convulsion

CONVULSION

-noun

1. a violent involuntary contraction of a muscle or muscles

2. a violent upheaval, disturbance, or agitation, especially a social one

3. (usually plural) (informal) uncontrollable laughter   

Ecstasy or

Convulsion?

Pleasure

Or pain?

Gormandize

GORMANDIZE

-verb

[ˈɡɔːmənˌdaɪz]

to eat (food) greedily and voraciously

-noun

[ˈɡɔːmənˌdiːz]

a love of and taste for good food . Also: gourmandise

It is not a lack of choices

But rather an abundance of gormandize

That pushes me to bring

My own food to work

Adorkable

ADORKABLE

-adj.

(slang) socially inept or unfashionable in a charming or endearing way

She issues an invitation

On the border of solicitation

Yet utterly adorkable

Aperture

APERTURE

-noun

1. a hole, gap, crack, slit, or other opening

2. (physics)

a. a usually circular and often variable opening in an optical instrument or device that controls the quantity of radiation entering or leaving it

b. the diameter of such an opening 

Steal a glimpse

Of a forbidden courtyard

Through a momentary aperture

Envy

Madarosis

MADAROSIS

-noun

the abnormal loss of eyebrows or eyelashes

The selfie shows

Him fearing

Madarosis

But that’s mere

Hypochondriasis

Fop

FOP

-noun

a man who is excessively concerned with fashion and elegance

Lost in this galaxy

An alien fop cries lead tears

Finding the fashion deleterious

And gravity a bitch

Exonumia

EXONUMIA

-plural noun

any non-monetary object of interest to numismatists, such as medals, tokens, etc.

Green with age

Coins indiscernible from exonumia

A treasure cauldron

Where the soup of time

Has gone bad 

Jumble

JUMBLE

-verb

1. to mingle (objects, papers, etc.) in a state of disorder

2. (trans.; usually passive) to remember in a confused form; muddle

-noun

3. a disordered mass, state, etc.

4. (British) articles donated for a jumble sale

5. Also called: jumbal . a small thin cake, usually ring-shaped

At the back of it all

In the jumble of relicts

A shocked lion scared of mice

Salsify

SALSIFY

[ˈsælsɪfɪ]

-noun

1. Also called: oyster plant, vegetable oyster a Mediterranean plant, Tragopogon porrifolius,having grasslike leaves, purple flower heads, and a long white edible taproot: family Asteraceae (composites)

2. the root of this plant, which tastes of oysters and is eaten as a vegetable

Pure poetry in the dish

Salsify tagliatelle

Hare ragout à la royale

Prowess

PROWESS

-noun

1. outstanding or superior skill or ability

2. bravery or fearlessness, especially in battle

One story is good, till another is told.

All as you say, I only know this:

I have taken with the forest;

Besides, you are not swift as the wind

At the altars in the neighbourhood

You will eat the dead and not the living.

And each other in strength and prowess

Unwittingly dashed against the signboard.

The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.

If words suffice not, blows must follow.

Fable Salad is a found poem picked from:

Aesop's Fables - Translated by George Fyler Townsen -. Amazon Digital Services, Inc..

Survey

SURVEY

-verb

1. (trans.) to view or consider in a comprehensive or general way

2. (trans.) to examine carefully, as or as if to appraise value

3. to plot a detailed map of (an area of land) by measuring or calculating distances and height

4. (British) to inspect (a building) to determine its condition and value

5. to examine (a vessel) thoroughly in order to determine its seaworthiness

6. (trans.) to run a statistical survey on (incomes, opinions, etc.)

-noun

7. a comprehensive or general view

8. a critical, detailed, and formal inspection

9. (British) an inspection of a building to determine its condition and value

10. a report incorporating the results of such an inspection

11. a body of surveyors

12. an area surveyed

13. (statistics) . a random sample

Looking over a fence

For a quick survey of works

Assessing the effort and time

Needed before opening

Allure

ALLURE

-verb

1. (trans.) to entice or tempt (someone) to a person or place or to a course of action; attract

-noun

2. attractiveness; appeal 

A flutter of wings

Marble allure up the wall

Attracting the eye

Adjunct

ADJUNCT

-noun

1. something incidental or not essential that is added to something else

2. a person who is subordinate to another

3. (grammar)

a. part of a sentence other than the subject or the predicate

b. (in systemic grammar) part of a sentence other than the subject, predicator, object, or complement; usually a prepositional or adverbial group

c. part of a sentence that may be omitted without making the sentence ungrammatical; a modifier

4. (logic) a nonessential attribute or characteristic of something (as opposed to substance)

-adj.

5. added or connected in a secondary or subordinate position; auxiliary

Seeping water brought

Moss adjuncts to the wall

Impromptu colours 

Anacoluthon

ANACOLUTHON

[ˌænəkəˈluːθɒn]

-noun

(rhetoric) a construction that involves the change from one grammatical sequence to another within a single sentence; an example of anacoluthia

As every second withers and dies

Never to be repeated, seldom recorded

Yet another end to the world as we know it

An anacoluthon in every breath.

Frowsty

FROWSTY

-adj.

ill-smelling; stale; musty

In the garden

Frowsty jumble dolls

Parade as art pieces

Financier

FINANCIER

-noun

1. a person who is engaged or skilled in large-scale financial operations

-noun

1. small cake of French origins, similar to sponge cake, traditionally made of  almond flour, but sometimes involving flour from other types of nut.

Caramelised white chocolate

A little pistachio financier

Roasted quince - delight

Entice

ENTICE

-verb

(trans.) to attract or draw towards oneself by exciting hope or desire; tempt; allure

I reach out

Trying to entice him

To get a better picture

Without hope

Negociant

NEGOCIANT

-noun

wine merchant

With spring

Lusty negociants

Take to the street

Ready for all occasions

Profane

PROFANE

-adj.

1. having or indicating contempt, irreverence, or disrespect for a divinity or something sacred

2. not designed or used for religious purposes; secular

3. not initiated into the inner mysteries or sacred rites

4. vulgar, coarse, or blasphemous

-verb (trans.)

5. to treat or use (something sacred) with irreverence

6. to put to an unworthy or improper use

In our search for a meaning

To all mysteries we hazard

Profane hypotheses across

A perilous mystical chess board

Dexterous

DEXTEROUS

 -adj.
1. possessing or done with dexterity
2. a rare word for right-handed

Entering stage right

A dexterous putto

Carrying mischief

On a silver platter

Undulous

UNDULOUS

-adj.

having a wavy form or appearance

Dizzying

Undulous daffodil fields

Bringing colour to

A rain day

Disemwovel

DISEMVOWEL 

[ˌdɪsɪmˈvaʊəl]

-verb

(trans.) (informal) to remove the vowels from (a word in a text message, email, etc.) in order to abbreviate it

This is beyond

Simple disemvowelling

Nearly hieroglyphic

Yet fully fictional

Lignicolous

LIGNICOLOUS

-adj.

growing or living on or in wood

Unlike its Pleurotus siblings

This delight is not lignicolous

[Not that we care]

Atrabiliar

ATRABILIAR

-adj.

(rare) irritable

The little atrabiliar fool

Seeking shelter from pests

Nubilous

NUBILOUS

-adj.

(literary)

1. cloudy; misty

2. vague; obscure

The curtains are drawn

A nubilous dawn

Chasing light over the sea

Contend

CONTEND

-verb

1. (intr.) often followed by “with” . to struggle in rivalry, battle, etc.; vie

2. to argue earnestly; debate

3. (trans.; may take a clause as object) to assert or maintain

Reflections

Contend for content

Where is reality?

Plight

PLIGHT

-noun

1. a condition of extreme hardship, danger, etc.

-verb

1. to give or pledge (one's word)

2. to promise formally or pledge (allegiance, support, etc.) 

-noun

3. (archaic  or dialect) a solemn promise, especially of engagement; pledge

There was a botched plight

To give that horse wings

But specifications got warped

And it was given paddles instead

Clip

CLIP

-verb  (mainly trans.)

1. (also intr.) to cut, snip, or trim with or as if with scissors or shears, especially in order to shorten or remove a part

2. (British) to punch (a hole) in something, especially a ticket

3. to curtail or cut short

4. to move a short section from (a film, etc.)

5. to shorten (a word)

6. (intr.) to trot or move rapidly, especially over a long distance

7. (informal) to strike with a sharp, often slanting, blow

8. (slang) to obtain (money) by deception or cheating

9. (US, slang) to murder; execute

-noun

10. the act or process of clipping

11. something clipped off

12. an extract from a film, newspaper, etc.

13. (informal) a sharp, often slanting, blow

14. (informal) speed

15. (Australian & and New Zealand) the total quantity of wool shorn, as in one place, season, etc.

-noun

1. any of various small implements used to hold loose articles together or to attach one article to another

2. an article of jewellery that can be clipped onto a dress, hat, etc.

3. the pointed flange on a horseshoe that secures it to the front part of the hoof

-verb

4. (trans.)to hold together tightly, as with a clip

5. (trans.) (archaic  or dialect) to embrace

Coming up

From underground

For a clip of fresh air

Seeing a black friar

Clipped to a wall

Haggle

HAGGLE

-verb

1. (intr.) often followed by “over” . to bargain or wrangle (over a price, terms of an agreement, etc.); barter

2. (trans.) (rare) to hack

In the market place

They haggle over the price

Of souls and salvation

Guggle

GUGGLE

-verb

1. to drink making a gurgling sound

2. to make a sound like that made when liquid is poured from a bottle

As much as I hate

Guggle sounds

I do like the effect

Coll

COLL

-verb

to embrace (a person)

Ever since she was a kitten

She has always colled him

Her favourite human cushion

Fugle

FUGLE

-verb

1. to act as a fugleman or guide

2. to make signals; to gesticulate

The creature darts back and forth

Fugles to attract my attention

It’s a scam to rob me of my food

Duty

DUTY

-noun

1. a task or action that a person is bound to perform for moral or legal reasons

2. respect or obedience due to a superior, older persons, etc.

3. the force that binds one morally or legally to one's obligations

4. a government tax, especially on imports

5. (British)

a. the quantity or intensity of work for which a machine is designed

b. a measure of the efficiency of a machine

6. the quantity of water necessary to irrigate an area of land to grow a particular crop

7. a job or service allocated

You asked me what motive

What duty made me look away

From the parallel worlds here reflected

But in truth I worried only

About saving my sanity

Scope

SCOPE

-noun

1. opportunity for exercising the faculties or abilities; capacity for action

2. range of view, perception, or grasp; outlook

3. the area covered by an activity, topic, etc.; range 

4. (nautical) slack left in an anchor cable

5. (logic, linguistics) that part of an expression that is governed by a given operator

6. (archaic) purpose or aim

-verb

7. (informal) to look at or examine carefully

In the fog

We lost our scope

Traded in for ghosts

And ruins

Initiative

INITIATIVE

-noun

1. the first step or action of a matter; commencing move

2. the right or power to begin or initiate something

3. the ability or attitude required to begin or initiate something

4. (government)

a. the right or power to introduce legislation, etc., in a legislative body

b. the procedure by which citizens originate legislation, as in many American states and Switzerland

-adj.

5. of or concerning initiation or serving to initiate; initiatory

They scatter

On their own initiative,

Called by urgent sounds,

Missing points,

Never intersecting.

Sisters.

Woebegone

WOEBEGONE 

[ˈwəʊbɪˌɡɒn  ] 

-adj.

sorrowful or sad in appearance

(archaic) afflicted with woe

Hidden away

A woebegone monument

To the moon landing

Re-purposed

As veteran memorial

Carpaccio

CARPACCIO

[ˌkɑːˈpætʃɪəʊ]

-noun

an Italian dish of thin slices of raw meat or fish

Savoury breakfast

Culinary alliances

French croissant

Italian carpaccio

Tiger

TIGER

-noun

1. a large feline mammal, Panthera tigris, of forests in most of Asia, having a tawny yellow coat with black stripes

2. (not in technical use) . any of various other animals, such as the jaguar, leopard, and thylacine

3. a dynamic, forceful, or cruel person

4. a country, especially in E Asia, that is achieving rapid economic growth

5. (archaic) . a servant in livery, especially a page or groom

6. short for tiger moth

7. (South Africa, slang) a ten-rand note

This grumpy tiger

Demands to know

Why we do not fear her

Niggard

NIGGARD

[ˈnɪɡəd  ] 

-noun

1. a stingy person

-adj.

2. (archaic) miserly

Offers for perusal

But some niggard

Has put a price tag

No running away

Ere

ERE 

[ɛə  ] 

-conjunction

1. (poetic) earlier than the time when 

-preposition

2. (poetic) preceding in space or time; in front of; ahead of   

Ere barbarian invasions

This was a wealthy place

But tombs were plundered

Precious marbles burnt for lime

Leaving fragments behind

For archaeologists to ponder over

Penurious

PENURIOUS 

[pɪˈnjʊərɪəs  ]

-adj.

1. niggardly with money

2. lacking money or means

3. yielding little; scanty

One could pretend

In penurious times

This is an expensive

Satellite view 

Strewth

STREWTH 

[struːθ  ]

-exclamation

an expression of surprise or dismay

Strewth,

I never expected

Old resins, decayed leaves

To be so fragrant still!

Imponderable

IMPONDERABLE

-adj.

1. unable to be weighed or assessed

-noun

2. something difficult or impossible to assess

The light you shine

So dark, so imponderable

Casts fluttering shadows

In my heart