bedizen (bih-DYE-zun) Definition (verb) to dress or adorn gaudily. In Context "Designed by architect Pierre Dené, the two-story 'rancho deluxe' bedizened itself with every California-style feature that defined its era. It had a Roman brick fireplace, terrazzo floors and big dramatic windows." Lisa Gray, The Houston Chronicle, 20 Apr. 2008
Minion (MIN-yun) Definition (Noun) 1. a servile dependent, follower, or underling 2. one highly favored : idol 3. a subordinate or petty official In Context "Smartphones make it easier for managers to change their minds at the last moment: for example, to e-mail a minion at 11pm to tell him he must fly to Pittsburgh tomorrow." The Economist, 10 Mar. 2012
Parkside & Ocean b ferguson there is a kind of memory that feels, somehow suddenly, like a wound, though not always, not until one wanders back through: the dark, damp alley the only path toward home—every place i have loved has forced me to leave. and then there is memory as one might always wish: bejeweled, like sugar on the tongue upon reentry. what is the name for the scent that whispers mother, the twanged hue of evening that gestures island, limestone, cane, spume? Flatbush, i have sauntered away from everything that has called me kin now, as i have before, [...]
Definition 1. weak, ineffective 2. worthless, irresponsible In Context "Right or wrong, plenty of Twitter’s users view Dorsey as a feckless, spineless suit unwilling to address even the most basic problems plaguing his platform." Molloy, Parker, The Verge, "Roasting Jack Dorsey’s beard may be petty, but it’s also part of a time-honored tradition," 7 Sep. 2018
Lost Letter Tory Adkisson I watched as the white marble chipped, watched as the coast eddied with elegiac seafoam and two men plunged their hands into the deep recesses of a small, seaside cave. I held the silver letter opener to my breast like a sword. I didn’t know what I was protecting myself from. My friend, if you find this letter in Paris or Parnassus, remember how the statues of boys bent toward each other like Actaeon’s hounds bared themselves against their master’s throat—an interminable thirst for the flesh consuming their primitive minds. And remember me, sitting across from you [...]
The Paper Nautilus Marianne Moore For authorities whose hopes are shaped by mercenaries? Writers entrapped by teatime fame and by commuters’ comforts? Not for these the paper nautilus constructs her thin glass shell. Giving her perishable souvenir of hope, a dull white outside and smooth- edged inner surface glossy as the sea, the watchful maker of it guards it day and night; she scarcely eats until the eggs are hatched. Buried eight-fold in her eight arms, for she is in a sense a devil- fish, her glass ramshorn-cradled freight is hid but is not crushed. As Hercules, bitten by a crab [...]
afflatus (uh-FLEY-tuh s) Definition (Noun) 1. inspiration; an impelling mental force acting from within. 2. divine communication of knowledge. In Context "Then with an afflatus, words flow, whispered by my muse, into lines and stanzas." Peter E. William, Dreaming of Dreaming, 2005
Naïve Tim Seibles I love you but I don’t know you —Mennonite Woman When I was seven, I walked home with Dereck DeLarge, my arm slung over his skinny shoulders, after-school sun buffing our lunch boxes. So easy, that gesture, so light— the kind of love that lands like a leaf. It was 1963. We were two black boys whose snaggle-toothed grins held a thousand giggles. Remember? Remember wanting to play every minute, as if that was why we were born? Those hands that bring us shouting into this life must open like [...]
liminal (LĬM-ə-nəl) Definition (Adjective) Characterized by being on a boundary or threshold, especially by being transitional or intermediate between two states, situations, etc. In Context "Biologically and culturally, for the child-apprentice it was a liminal moment as he encountered the challenges of puberty at the same time that he abandoned (and was abandoned by) his natural family in order to enter an adoptive one." Steven Laurence Kaplan, The Bakers of Paris and the Bread Question: 1700-1775, 1996.
Walking Beside the Cemetery, Olivia Street, Key West Jacqueline Allen Trimble The City Cemetery was established in 1847 on “high ground, sixteen feet above sea level” in Key West following the disastrous hurricane of October 11, 1846, where the then beachside cemetery was unearthed due to the winds and seas. —“Historic Key West City Cemetery,” City of Key West Florida In Key West, the living surround the dead, who are the best neighbors silent and agreeable as well-swept porches. A fence that separates this [...]
