Thursday 30 June 2011

Synecdoche

SYNECDOCHE

–noun
Rhetoric .
a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special, as in ten sail for ten ships or a Croesus for a rich man.























Synecdoche as epitome?
Or epitome as synecdoche?
So much to choose from
So little to lie upon.

Wednesday 29 June 2011

Missus

MISSUS

-noun
1. informal. the missus one's wife or the wife of the person addressed or referred to
2. an informal term of address for a woman
Also spelled "missis"























Missus Liberty
Is blind to reality
Too bold to admit defeat
To become pragmatic

Tuesday 28 June 2011

Simper

SIMPER

–verb (used without object)
1. to smile in a silly, self-conscious way.
–verb (used with object)
2. to say with a simper.
–noun
3. a silly, self-conscious smile.



A little rigid
Yet putrescent
Dead fish simper

Monday 27 June 2011

Pen

PEN

–noun
1. any of various instruments for writing or drawing with ink or a similar substance.
2. a detachable metal pen-point, filled by dipping or with a quill; nib.
3. such a pen-point with its pen-holder.
4. fountain pen.
5. ball-point pen.
6. the pen as the instrument of writing or authorship.
7. a person's style or quality of writing.
8. a writer.
9. the profession of writing.
10. stylus - Computers . a pen-shaped device used on a display screen to input commands or handwritten text or drawings.
11. Ornithology .
a. a quill.
b. a pinfeather.
12. something resembling or suggesting a feather or quill.
13. Zoology . an internal, corneous or chitinous, feather-shaped structure in certain cephalopods, as the squid.
–verb (used with object)
14. to write with or as with a pen; put down in writing.
15. to draw with or as with a pen

–noun
1. a small enclosure for domestic animals.
2. animals so enclosed:.
3. an enclosure used for confinement or safekeeping.
4. playpen.
5. bull pen.
6. a dock having a protective concrete structure overhead, used to service and repair submarines.
–verb (used with object)
7. to confine in or as in a pen.

–noun
a female swan.





My pen has just sang its last song
The swan's song turned out to be a dreadful scratching sound.
Ink spattered everywhere.

Sunday 26 June 2011

Malt

MALT

–noun
1. germinated grain, usually barley, used in brewing and distilling.
2. any alcoholic beverage, as beer, ale, or malt liquor, fermented from malt.
3. whisky, as Scotch, that is distilled entirely from malted barley
–verb (used with object)
5. to convert (grain) into malt by soaking it in water and allowing it to germinate.
6. to treat or mix with malt, malt extract, etc.
7. to make (liquor) with malt.
–verb (used without object)
8. to become malt.
9. to produce malt from grain.



Malted drinks
In every form
Good for you
Within reason

Saturday 25 June 2011

Prodrome

–noun
Pathology .
a premonitory symptom.























I could recognize
In his slanted look
The prodrome of mirth
A jest in the making

Friday 24 June 2011

Epitome

EPITOME

–noun
1. a person or thing that is typical of or possesses to a high degree the features of a whole class.
2. a condensed account, especially of a literary work; abstract























A chair and palm tree
The sound of waves breaking
The epitomes of summer

Thursday 23 June 2011

Cymotrichous

CYMOTRICHOUS

-adj.
having wavy hair






















Let the cymotrichous sleep
Dreaming their unbending dreams
Of succulent straight leaves.

Wednesday 22 June 2011

Wiredrawn

WIREDRAWN

-adj.
1.Finely spun; extremely intricate; minute.
2.Drawn out long and thin like a wire.























Wiredrawn stories
Eating away the hours
Nights become too short.

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Heist

HEIST

–noun
1. a robbery or holdup.
–verb (used with object)
2. to take unlawfully, especially in a robbery or holdup; steal
3. to rob or hold up.

























Time and roses
Have run a heist
On the old dead olive tree
Stealing its wood for support
At thorn point.

Monday 20 June 2011

Behest

BEHEST

–nou
n
1. a command or directive.
2. an earnest or strongly worded request.



Flowers jump out
At the behest of spring

Sunday 19 June 2011

Axiomatic

AXIOMATIC

-adj.
1 taken for granted : self-evident
2 based on or involving an axiom or system of axioms























Axiomatic salad
Dictated by heat
And summer bounty

Saturday 18 June 2011

Resent

RESENT

–verb (used with object)
to feel or show displeasure or indignation at (a person, act, remark, etc.) from a sense of injury or insult.




I resent your snacking
On something I can't steal.

Friday 17 June 2011

Knoll

KNOLL

-noun
a small, rounded hill or eminence; hillock.
–verb (used with object)
1. to ring or toll a bell for; announce by tolling.
2. to ring or toll (a bell).
–verb (used without object)
3. to sound, as a bell; ring.
4. to sound a knell.
–noun
5. a stroke of a bell in ringing or tolling.


























Evening knoll
Rounded like a bell
Sounding teat.

Thursday 16 June 2011

Highfalutin

HIGHFALUTIN

-adj.
Pompous; bombastic.

























Teeth and claws
Wings too
Broken
Away
By
Time
Highfalutin beast
No more

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Ladder

LADDER

–noun
1. a structure of wood, metal, or rope, commonly consisting of two sidepieces between which a series of bars or rungs are set at suitable distances, forming a means of climbing up or down.
2. something resembling this.
3. a means of rising, as to eminence.
4. a graded series of stages or levels in status; a hierarchical order of position or rank.
5. Nautical . companionway within the hull of the vessel.
6. Chiefly British . a run in a stocking.
–verb (used with object)
7. to climb or mount by means of a ladder.
8. to furnish with a ladder.
9. Chiefly British . to cause a run in (a stocking).
–verb (used without object)
10. Chiefly British . to get a run, as in a stocking.
11. to gain in popularity or importance.

























He wanted to climb to heaven
Took a ladder and went his way
Got stranded into the orchard
For fruits were sweet and tempting
Unnoticed hours slipped away.

Much later, we found his tools,
Spat pits and a handful of feathers
But no sign of him anywhere
He wanted to climb to heaven
But maybe he was just taken away.

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Widget

WIDGET

—noun
1. informal any small mechanism or device, the name of which is unknown or temporarily forgotten
2. a small device in a beer can which, when the can is opened, releases nitrogen gas into the beer, giving it a head
3. a small computer program that can be installed on and executed from the desktop of a personal computer



This computer popped a widget
And went "Fizzzz!"
We are sorry to report
It totally lost its head



This has been generated by a handsome widget at Atom Smasher

Monday 13 June 2011

Cosmogony

COSMOGONY

–noun
a theory or story of the origin and development of the universe, the solar system, or the earth-moon system.



In a summer night moment
Glimpses of cosmogony make you shiver
Star dust underneath your toes
In between your clenched teeth

Sunday 12 June 2011

Expectation

EXPECTATION

-noun
1. the act or state of expecting or the state of being expected
2. ( usually plural ) something looked forward to, whether feared or hoped for.
3. an attitude of expectancy or hope; anticipation.
4. statistics
a. the numerical probability that an event will occur
b. another term for expected value



I call them expectation
Jewels from the garden
Precious and bountiful
For a too short month

Saturday 11 June 2011

Herl

HERL

-noun
1. a strand of hair.
2. The fibrous shaft or barb of a feather (especially that of the ostrich or peacock) used to make artificial flies for angling.
3. An artificial fly made with this barb






















Herl provider
Seminating fibers all over the lawn
To catch the fish
Laid there by the night
Hidden in dew drops

Friday 10 June 2011

Spall

SPALL

—noun
1. a splinter or chip of ore, rock, or stone
—verb
2. to split or cause to split into such fragments



I admit it
I wanted your heart to spall
The hurt to turn your eyes blue
Blood on your lips

I had no thoughts
Of basic ballistic rules
The shards cut right through me
As I counted points.

Thursday 9 June 2011

Tumbril

TUMBRIL

–noun
(also: tumbrel)
1. one of the carts used during the French Revolution to convey victims to the guillotine.
2. a farmer's cart, especially one for hauling manure, that can be tilted to discharge its load.
3. Obsolete . a two-wheeled covered cart accompanying artillery for carrying tools, ammunition, etc.























A tumbril of leaves
To shift the seasons
And dried up memories

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Trope

TROPE

–noun

1. Rhetoric .
a. any literary or rhetorical device, as metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony, that consists in the use of words in other than their literal sense.
b. an instance of this. Compare figure of speech.
2. a phrase, sentence, or verse formerly interpolated in a liturgical text to amplify or embellish.
3. (in the philosophy of Santayana) the principle of organization according to which matter moves to form an object during the various stages of its existence.























Support our tropes!

Tuesday 7 June 2011

Doxology

DOXOLOGY

-noun

1. a hymn or form of words containing an ascription of praise to god.
2. the Doxology, the metrical formula beginning “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”






















I found doxology too
In the stone carved torments
The warnings and flames
Promises of the unspeakable
For refusing a holy embrace.

Monday 6 June 2011

Liquescent

LIQUESCENT

–adj.
1. becoming liquid; melting.
2. tending toward a liquid state.






















Liquescent glass
Condemned by gravity and time
To drop away

Sunday 5 June 2011

Flummery

FLUMMERY

–noun
1. oatmeal or flour boiled with water until thick.
2. fruit custard or blancmange usually thickened with cornstarch.
3. any of various dishes made of flour, milk, eggs, sugar, etc.
4. complete nonsense; foolish humbug.























Unusual flummery
Celebrating spring glory.

Saturday 4 June 2011

Tyro

TYRO

-noun
One who is beginning to learn something. Also: tiro




Tyro tyrant
Holding human hearts
In her paws

Friday 3 June 2011

Shirty

SHIRTY

-adj.

Bad-tempered, irritable.



Shirty
Heroes
As guardians
To
Forbidden
Doors

Thursday 2 June 2011

Usufruct

USUFRUCT

-noun
The right to use and enjoy another's property without destroying it.



Marriage came with usufruct,
Not possession
You had no right to break my heart.

Wednesday 1 June 2011

Litmus

LITMUS

—noun
a soluble powder obtained from certain lichens. It turns red under acid conditions and blue under basic conditions and is used as an indicator























Litmus coloured life
Rusting under a blue sky