A while ago on facebook, I asked people to give me their favourite underused English words. I got a lot. My friends have large vocabularies. I’ve spent some time looking them up (I love the OED!) and putting them on index cards, with the intent of doing something literary and interesting with them. The original idea was to write something that incorporated all the words. I may still do that. But to warm myself up, I decided to write a poem around each of the words.
It is and will continue to be a slow process, but I will post them here when I write them (unless or until I feel like they need a space of their own). If you have your own ideas for words that you think are underused or underappreciated, leave them in the comments and I’ll add them to my list.
Defenestration
In medieval Prague, religious fears
Fuelled politics. The Catholic councilors
Were defenestrated.
Saved by the angels, people said.
Today the falling, flailing bodies
Thud and splat when they land.
Camera angles, dummies, and makeup
Instead of Bohemian angels.
Bibliophilia 