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
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 [...]
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.
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 [...]
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.
chthonian (THŌ-nē-ən) Definition (Adjective) Dwelling in or beneath the surface of the earth. In Context "'Chthonian' is derived from the Greek for 'earth,' and the adjective was generally associated with the mythological underworld and its shadowy deities, the darker counterparts of the Olympians." Joseph R. Millichap, A Backward Glance: The Southern Renascence, the Autobiographical Epic, and the Classical Legacy, 2009. This word was suggested by Jeff Bergman in the Office of Human Resources.
Green Burial Unsonnet Dante Di Stefano In the milliseconds & minutes & millennia when I no longer am the bundle of meat & need unpoeming itself in the still hours of a full or empty house, I dream my eye socket encased underground with root & worm & watershed threading through it. | | The summers become hotter & hotter. | | Unbearable & luminous, the refrain of the song of extinction— My children & my children’s children will inherit the edges of cumulonimbus clouds, [...]
[O But My Delicate Lover] Sappho O but my delicate lover, Is she not fair as the moonlight? Is she not supple and strong For hurried passion? Has not the god of the green world, In his large tolerant wisdom, Filled with the ardours of earth Her twenty summers? Well did he make her for loving; Well did he mould her for beauty; Gave her the wish that is brave With understanding. “O Pan, avert from his maiden Sorrow, misfortune, bereavement, Harm, and unhappy regret,” Prays one fond mortal.
zephyr (ZĔF-ər) Definition (Noun) A soft, mild, gentle wind or breeze. In Context "There was not even a zephyr stirring; the dead noonday heat had even stilled the songs of the birds; nature lay in a trance that was broken by no sound but the occasional far-off hammering of a woodpecker, and this seemed to render the pervading silence and sense of loneliness the more profound." Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876.
masticate (MĂS-tĭ-kāt) Definition (Verb) To reduce (food) to a pulp with the teeth; to grind up by, or as if by, chewing. In Context "Another viewpoint is that the French have fewer heart attacks because they eat more slowly and masticate their food properly, chewing each mouthful twenty-five times, rather than wolfing down their dinner before pulling out from the Wendy's window." Theodore Fenske, While You Quit: A Smoker's Guide to Reducing the Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke, 2009.
