1. stound — a throbbing pain; ache Her unkind words left a stound in my heart. 2. calced — wearing shoes According to past popular misconception, the calced natives of the South consisted solely of the upper class. 3. feckless — irresponsible, unreliable The feckless attempts of politicians to fulfill their campaign promises …
Author Archives: mysterious6030
Doggerel
Their tails beat a metronome of desire As the last candle concedes its fire. They trail my wife with eager feet Hovering, quavering, awaiting their treat. As she closes the door and from the pantry repairs, Already the twain have dashed up the stairs, Attentive and breathless, with focus complete, As idle footfalls sound retreat. …
Reflections on the Woman Cutting in Line at the Airport
1. That she is rude 2. That she is uncaring 3. That she has defective math skills, and does not realize that 29 is a later number than 26 4. That she is unskilled in logic, and does not realize that her A29 means one and only one person might be behind her in the …
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Friday Vocabulary
1. dehiscence — bursting of a surgical closure; opening of seed-pod or fruits The vomitous debate about raising the debt ceiling threatens either the dehiscence of red ink across our children’s future or a return to the safety net of feudalism. 2. paltering — insincere, lying speech But your selfish tongue brings only paltering …
Writing Poem
I am not yet ready to write this poem, Yet, knowing this, I cannot refrain. An unnoted thought may forever escape, Never to visit again. Someday I may understand these words, Learn the craft, the wiles, and the way To place beautifully the beauty I see, but cannot say. Perhaps in the future the ageless …
Washing
We put our dirt into a box. It comes out unnaturally clean. The work it saves – a total loss, Paid to our machine. We put them in, we take them out, The dishes we wish to clean, And shield from view and mind throughout Our residue obscene. Happy the hand that holds the sponge, …
Pensée
Tes lèvres frémissent sous ma bouche. Tu me fais tressaillir avec ta touche. Ton regarde à moi est précieux comme celui de la lune. Joie — plus que joie! — que nous deux devenons une. Si tu me manque pour un instant, Comme si le soleil ne se levera jamais, Mon coeur tombera dans l’abîme …
Tombs I
I crawled deep into the crypt, hoping to find some answers there, entombed in the time before brands walked the earth like Gods, smiting all meaning before their benevolent strides, full of smiles and pleasures of hearth and hope. The nacre lay beneath the dusty webs and musty air of the damp departed. I crouched …
Letters From Hell
I have just finished reading The Letters of Arthur Rimbaud, and they have left me very sad, sad for days, in fact, as I trudged through the final, banal, exhausting, bourgeois two thirds of the book. Such a waste! I could gather some telling quotations from the letters of his post-poetic existence, could mine the …
I See Nobody
Ah, crafty, wily, quick-tongued Odysseus! Was there ever such a hero before, relying upon his wits rather than his brute strength? A fighter, too, and brave beyond all reckoning, willing to test himself against the siren’s song, though only after espying the loophole in their magic and challenging their beckoning music with prior restraint. Tennyson’s …