Word of the Week: shenanigan (shuh-NAN-ih-gun)

2024-09-11T15:13:42-04:00

Word of the Week: shenanigan (shuh-NAN-ih-gun) Definition (Noun) 1 : a devious trick used especially for an underhand purpose 2 a : tricky or questionable practices or conduct — usually used in plural b : high-spirited or mischievous activity — usually used in plural In Context "And the protesters outside were just the start of the shenanigans. Inside the building, one person attended the hearing dressed in a Russian troll costume." Kevin Roose, The New York Times, 16 Apr. 2018

Word of the Week: shenanigan (shuh-NAN-ih-gun)2024-09-11T15:13:42-04:00

A Poem for You: From “Spanish Folk Songs” by Salvador De Madariaga

2024-09-11T15:26:00-04:00

From “Spanish Folk Songs” Salvador De Madariaga                   II Of the dust of the earth  Can I make songs. One is scarcely over,  A new one comes. Del polvo de la tierra  Saco yo coplas.  No bien se acaba una  Ya tengo otra.                   LV Like two trees we are By fate separated. The road is between But the boughs are mated. Como dos árboles somos Que la suerte nos separa, Con un camino por medio, Pero se juntan las ramas.                   CII I see myself as a crow.  All are wearing clothes of gladness,  Clothed in black mourning I go. Me comparo con [...]

A Poem for You: From “Spanish Folk Songs” by Salvador De Madariaga2024-09-11T15:26:00-04:00

A Poem for You: Story—Late Summer or Early Fall by Yoo Heekyung 

2024-09-11T15:37:29-04:00

Story—Late Summer or Early Fall Yoo Heekyung  translated from the Korean by Stine An Late summer or early fall—memories are unreliable Father was lying on his side In the swaying spiderweb, no spider could be seen The spider is hiding, why don’t you try touching the spiderweb But I am afraid The sound of wooden floorboards creaking Withering up for decades, Father rolled over to his other side And when he did, his scent, his warmth Just as I hadn’t touched the spiderweb, I didn’t dare touch my father’s back And so, neither the spider nor my father moved Why couldn’t I [...]

A Poem for You: Story—Late Summer or Early Fall by Yoo Heekyung 2024-09-11T15:37:29-04:00

Word of the Week: mantic (MAN-tik)

2024-09-11T14:55:06-04:00

Word of the Week: mantic (MAN-tik) Definition (Adjective) of or relating to the faculty of divination : prophetic In Context "Like everyone else, I was in awe of her mantic abilities, and I think she looked upon my storytelling endeavors with indulgence, having known both my father and my grandfather in their prime." Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, The Storyteller of Marrakesh, 2011

Word of the Week: mantic (MAN-tik)2024-09-11T14:55:06-04:00

A Poem for You: Jersey by JoAnne McFarland

2024-09-05T16:19:12-04:00

Jersey JoAnne McFarland He tells me he’s a parolee looking for a good woman but he’s been bad so bad trapped in a sheet of ice wrapping the meat in paper shudders I shouldn’t be eating red meat with my hypertension and high cholesterol the steaming calf He says he’s been out six months but still it’s hard you know how it is the wrong people their bright ideas attempts to rise his bloody apron a recipe buckles and gives me an extra pound Copyright © 2024 by JoAnne McFarland. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on June 6, 2024, by the Academy [...]

A Poem for You: Jersey by JoAnne McFarland2024-09-05T16:19:12-04:00

Word of the Week: chirography (kahy-rog-ruh-fee)

2024-09-16T13:16:13-04:00

Word of the Week: chirography (kahy-rog-ruh-fee) Definition (Noun) handwriting; penmanship. In Context “ 'Three hours of hand-shaking is not calculated to improve a man’s chirography' he [Lincoln] said later that evening." Louis P. Masur, Lincoln's Hundred Days, 2012  

Word of the Week: chirography (kahy-rog-ruh-fee)2024-09-16T13:16:13-04:00

A Poem for You: Borrow by Sarah McCartt-Jackson

2024-06-18T13:33:08-04:00

Borrow Sarah McCartt-Jackson We borrow from the land what we can but cannot return to it: bluestem, coneflower, boneset, broomcorn, a ring-necked pheasant tied to a pole, a flat stretch of land we strip and tar and pave, a creek that gets deeper as it downrivers, its edges spoiled with runoff. We collect seeds from the sunflowers and sow them like quilt pieces, a little scrap of prairie rose here, scrap of meadowlark feather there. Tamp down the soil with plodding hooves, steel-toed boots. Listen as the tallgrass rattles its dry stems, cottonwood leaves quake as they remember mountain lakes. Listen [...]

A Poem for You: Borrow by Sarah McCartt-Jackson2024-06-18T13:33:08-04:00

Word of the Week: winsome (WĬN-səm)

2024-06-18T14:46:29-04:00

winsome (WĬN-səm) Definition (Adjective) Pleasing or attractive in appearance, handsome, comely; of attractive nature or disposition, of winning character or manners. In Context "Patton had a winsome personal manner, however, and was an effective public speaker." George M. Marsden, The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief, 1994.

Word of the Week: winsome (WĬN-səm)2024-06-18T14:46:29-04:00

A Poem for You: Midmorning by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger

2024-06-18T13:24:42-04:00

Midmorning Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger translated from the German by Carlie Hoffman Wind, dreamy notes, sings its lullaby, gently touching the leaves. I let myself be, seduced, immersed in song like grass. Air shivers and cools my fevered face wrapped in desire. Clouds drift by, scatter white, sun-stolen light. The old acacia leaves silence a trembling tangle of leaves. The scents of the earth rise, climb and then fall back to me.   Vormittag Der Wind singt sein Schlaflied Mit träumendem Rauschen, Die Blätter umschmeichelt er weich. Ich laß‘ mich verfuhren, dem Liede zu lauschen und fühl‘ mich den Gräsern gleich. Es schauern die [...]

A Poem for You: Midmorning by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger2024-06-18T13:24:42-04:00

Word of the Week: incipient (ĭn-SĬP-ē-ənt)

2024-06-18T14:40:41-04:00

incipient (ĭn-SĬP-ē-ənt) Definition (Adjective) Beginning; commencing; coming into, or in an early stage of, existence; in an initial stage. In Context "The whiff of incipient anarchy in Iraq in recent days has provided a prospect so terrifying as to concentrate the minds of Republicans and Democrats, Iraq's sectarian political factions, and even the media." Robert D. Kaplan, "Salvation from a Hobbesian World," The Jerusalem Post, March 6, 2006.

Word of the Week: incipient (ĭn-SĬP-ē-ənt)2024-06-18T14:40:41-04:00

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