Diacritic ... Punctuate

Today's word is "diacritic" ... dahy-uh-krit-ik ... a mark, point, or sign added to a letter or character to distinguish it from another of similar form. (Dictionary.com)

Punctuate

Wouldn't it be interesting,

If we could tell apart,

The good folks from the bad,

(Without wondering about their hearts?)

Perhaps a diacritic mark,

Could appear above the heads,

Of those who might evil do,

(We'd have nothing left to dread.)

Instead, we must pay attention,

To the results we see,

For they will clarify for certain,

Those with whom we can agree.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Lionhearted ... Strive

Today's word is "lionhearted" ... lahy-uh n-hahr-tid ... exceptionally courageous or brave. (Dictionary.com)

Strive

Some days it's all that we can do,

To get from morn to night alive,

No, nothing's really giving chase,

Yet it's toward twilight that we strive.

The timid looking backward, run,

Terrified of what they'll see,

The lionhearted charge ahead,

Percieving their sure victory.

The wise ones though, sit silently,

Breathing slow minutes at a time,

Noting uncounted blessings,

Enraptured with their God's design.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Drupe ... Sweet

Today's word is "drupe" ... droop ... Botany. any fruit, as a peach, cherry, plum, etc., consisting of an outer skin, a usually pulpy and succulent midddle layer, and a hard and woody inner shell usually enclosing a single seed. (Dictionary.com)

Sweet

One day when summer visits true,

And sun warms us all the day,

The dupes will ripen temptingly,

As hours we while away.

We too mature through  sunny days,

An d stormy hours as well,

In fact where greater growth occurs,

Is very hard to tell.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Pollyanna ... Ion

Today's word is "Pollyanna" ... pol-ee-an-uh ... (often lowercase). unreasonably or illogically optimistic: some Pollyanna notions about world peace. (Dictionary.com)

Ion
Despite grim, dark clouds,
Pollyannaish people smile,
Ignoring lightning.

Anne Selleck
Copyright 2017

Perfidious ... Roll

Today's word is "perfidious" ... per-fid-ee-uh s ... deliberately faithless; treacherous; deceitful. (Dictionary.com)

Roll

I always wonder about Judas,

And his perfidious appearing plan,

To destroy what once he dreamed of,

To betray the son of man.

With brave hopefulness he'd followed,

Listened to each holy word,

Thinking that victory was nearing,

Instead then, watching the absurd.

Blind eyes opened, a dead man raised,

Deaf ears unstopped, the walking lame,

Even miracle could not pursuade,

That his God's story could end in shame.

He gave up, his silver on the ground,

Before the stone was rolled away,

What if he had been there, on that morn,

To see the resurrection day?

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Dinkum ... Peep

Today's word is "dinkum" ... ding-Kuhn m ... Australian. genuine; authentic. (Dictionary.com)

Peep

Tiny little eggs of blue,

In their little nest,

Where are the little parent birds?

Should not they be at rest?

They are out a hunting,

For more leaves and sticks,

One of them should homeward fly,

Straight and very quick.

Who knows when those tiny hatchlings,

Will make their presence felt?

And, dinkum! Latch onto the first,

Who's heart will surely melt.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Synesthesia ... Unify

Today's word is "synesthesia" ... sin-uh s-thee-zhuh ... a sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality, as when hearing a sound induces the visualization of a color. (Dictionary.com)

Unify

Synesthesia,

Word and sound, color ... the world
Closer to heaven.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Lacuna ... Peer

Today's word is "lacuna" ... luh-kyoo-nuh ... a gap or missing part, as in a manuscript, series, or logical argument; hiatus. (Dictionary.com)

Peer

Looking back through space and time,

To the begining of all things,

There is a lacuna,

To which, no one knowledge brings.

A mystery, lays blind behind,

Where science cannot measure,

But wisdom seekers from all ages,

Find there expansive treasure.

Tests and equations will never tell,

The reason why we're here,

But faith can see what reason can't,

And that, wraps us 'round with cheer.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Green-collar ... Conundrums

Today's word is "green-collar" ... green-koh-ler ... noting or pertaining to workers, jobs, or businesses that are involved in protecting the environment or solving environmental problems. (Dictionary.com)

Conumdrums

If the problem involves paper,

A white-collar worker must respond,

A green-collar worker will be called,

If the problem's in a pond.

If the pipes have broken,

A blue-collar worker fits the bill,

But if you have a hang nail,

All you'll need is a small pill.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Jammy ...

Today's word is "jammy" ... jam-ee ... British Informal. very lucky. (Dictionary.com)

Oh!

Some days when you wake up,

You're feeling very jammy,

Then sometime after noon,

Life gives you a whammy.

Other days you barely,

Can open crying eyes,

When surprising good things,

Take you by surprize!

The moral of this story,

Is don't anticipate,

Something event or other's

Sure to end up on your plate!

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Latitudinarian ...

Today's word is "latitudinarian" ... lat-i-tood-n-air-de-uh n ... allowing or characterized by latitude in opinion or conduct, especially in religious views. (Dictionary.com)

Choices

What is it that you believe?

Ah! I can see your point,

And too, the things that they believe,

Down at that other joint.

I'm latitudinarian,

When it comes to most things,

Everyone's opinions,

Have a bit of truth that rings.

But as for me, and my beliefs,

I don't know which way to turn,

As I gaze on all the options,

For them all I yearn!

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Kerfuffle ... Stalemate

Today's word is "kerfuffle" ... ker-fuhf-uh l ... Chiefly British Informal. a fuss; commotion. (Dictionary.com)

Stalemate

Does it seem that nothing's settled,

Without negotiation most prolonged,

And that even after that,

The sides won't get along?

If the rules of the engagement,

Are surprisingly then broken,

During the kurfuffle that ensues,

Ill of the others will be spoken.

So we watch the realignment,

Of enemies and friends,

And wonder if they'll fight it out,

Or if one of them will bend.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Avarice ... Sparkle

Today's word is "averice" ... av-er-is ... insatiable greed for riches; inordinate, miserly desire to gain and hoard wealth. (Dictionary.com)

Sparkle

Spinning straw to gold ...

Avarice has sticky fingers.

The house overflows.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Smattering ... Facts

Today's word is "smattering" ... smat-er-ing ... a slight, superficial, or introductory knowledge of something. (Dictionary.com)

Facts

A little bit of this,

A smattering of that,

Is often knowledge quite enough,

If you're a bureaucrat.

Even if you labor,

In an ivory tower,

Your knowledge of minutiae,

Might earn you some power.

But if you're out to master,

The secrets of the soul,

What you will require,

Is a will to be made whole.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Leporine ... Hope

Today's word is "leporine" ... lep-uh-rahyn ... Zoology. of, relating to, or resembling a rabbit or hare. (Dictionary.com)

Hope

Joyful resurrection!

Day of love's rebirth!

We celebrate in wonder,

Heaven come to earth!

Leporine tales recount,

Hollow eggs and empty tomb,

And treats are spread about,

To bring joy out of gloom.

Mystery on mystery,
Fill the moments of this day,
Forgiveness flows refreshingly,
As we to grace give way.

Anne Selleck
Copyright 2017

Sententious ... Be

Today's word is "sententious" ... sen-ten-shuh s ... abounding in pithy aphorisms or maxims; given to excessive moralizing. (Dictionary.com)

Be
Breaking through the fog,
Of sententious learning,
Trusting gifts of grace,
For which the soul is yearning.

Leaning toward the center,
Where the stillness lays,
Coming home to love,
Where truth and daring play.

Anne Selleck
Copyright 2017

Compathy ... Finished

Today's word is "compathy" ... kom-puh-thee ... feelings, as happiness or grief, shared with another or others. (Dictionary.com)

Finished

On this day of sadness,

When memory is grief,

Easter morning beckons,

With compathy's relief.

But for now, forlorn,

We think of sins, undone,

And the mysterious glory,

Through which our freedom's won.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Hypozeuxis ... Bud

Today's word is "hypozeuxis" ... hahy-puh-zook-sis ... Rhetoric. the use of a series of parallel clauses, each of which has a subject and predicate, as in "I came, I saw, I conquered." (Dictionary.com)

Bud

Colored garden sways ...

Visual hypozeuxis,

Kaleidoscopic pleasure.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Rebarbative ... Whisper

Today's word is "rebarbative" ... ree-bahr-buh-tiv ... causing annoyance, irrigation, or aversion; repellent. (Dictionary.com)

Whisper

Ah, to find the soul within the soul,

That quiet center holy-filled,

Where rebarbative vibrations flee,

To companion with the chaos-willed.

And instead of all this worldly noise,

To worship near hushed angel's wing,

Brushed by fluttering innocence,

Held safe within the hymns they sing.

And if this seems impossible,

Then let me rest in arms of grace,

Where thoughts are guided heavenward,

In view of my dear savior's face.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Rampike ... Barren

Today's word is "rampike" ... ram-pahyk ... Chiefly Canadian. a dead tree, especially the bleached skeleton or splintered trunk of a tree killed by fire, lightning, or wind. (Dictionary.com)

Barren

Up along the tree line,

Along with scraggly pines,

Rampikes are etched against the sky,

Tracing a broken line.

Yet in this barren wilderness,

Secret life is birthed,

Creatures rise at daybreak,

From homes within the earth.

And, even at the eventide,

Across the starry sky,

Winged shapes surrender

To the wind and onward fly.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Mensch ... Break

Today's word is "mensch" ... mench ... Informal. a decent, upright, mature, and responsible person. (Dictionary.com)

Break

It will take a mench

     to see through the cloudy sky

          to linings silver.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Ostensible ... Move

Today's word is "ostensible" ... o-sten-suh-buh l ... outwardly appearing as such; professed; pretended. (Dictionary.com)

Move

He was there obstensibly,

Because he was unwell,

He laid by the pool each morning,

Hoping no one else could tell,

That he was hoping secretly,

To just be left alone,

And in case they wondered,

He'd let out a plaintive moan.

But one day a man came walking,

Who saw his unrepentive ruse,

And asked him if he would get up,

Or his normal excuses use.

Convicted thus, he found his feet,

Rolled up his mat and walked,

Then found himself rejoicing,

At the freedom he had fought.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Frenemy ... Hmmm

Today's word is "frenemy" ... fren-uh--mee ... Informal. a person or group that is friendly toward another because the relationship brings benefits, but harbors feelings of resentment or rivalry. (Dictionary.com)

Hmmm

How do you trust them,

for long? Righteous frenemies.

Friends with agendas?

Anne Selleck

Copyright

Inveterate ... Trip

Today's word is "inveterate" ... settled or confirmed in a habit, practice, feeling, or the like: an inveterate gambler. (Dictionary.com)

Trip
He walked with a smile, along,
An inveterate, hopefilled believer,
Nothing could shake his mood,
Even the dark, dangerous deciever.

He held in his hands a lamp,
And recited words ancient in meaning,
With these he kept at his journey,
His purpose, the joy of his being.

Anne Selleck
Copyright 2017

Kenning ... Emerge

Today's word is "kenning" ... ken-ing ... a conventional poetic phrase used for or in addition to the usual name of a person or thing, especially in Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon verse, as "a wave traveler" for "a boat." (Dictionary.com)

Emerge

Words, words, and more words,

Beautiful kenning shining,

Find new meanings here.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Fanfaronade ... Breaking

Today's word is "fanfaronade" ... fan-fer-uh-neyd ... Bragging; bravado; bluster. (Dictionary.com)

Breaking

All this folderol,

All this loud fanfaronade,

Peacemakers, listen.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Chatoyant ... Push

Today's word is "chatoyant" ... shuh-toi-uh nt ... changing in luster or color: chatoyant silk. (Dictionary.com)

Push

Small insistent shoots,

Have burst their soily beds,

Puddles of chatoyant blue,

Across the pavement spread.

Bare trees cradle living song,

Heard everywhere around,

As windows open shyly,

To welcome spring's fresh sound.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Aginner ... Stall

Today's word is "aginner" ... uh-gin-er ... Informal. a person who opposes a plan, proposed legislation, or any drastic change. (Dictionary.com)

Stall

Where's promised progress?

Ah! Aginners stand and stare.

Prepared for battle.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Platitude ... Blues

Today's word is "platitude" ... plat-i-tood ... a flat, dull, or trite remark, especially one uttered as if it were fresh or profound. (Dictionary.com)

Blues

We're looking for a new take,

On news that's tired and worn,

An end to routine platitudes,

And thoughts that are forlorn.

Someone must now straighten

Truths most tangled threads,

And be willing to deliver,

Complete, where they all end.

This sincere unraveling,

Will be difficult indeed,

This throwing off of bias,

In the service of truth's need.

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017

Plisky ... Surprise!

Today's word is "plisky" ... plus-kee ... Scot. and North England. a mischievous trick; practical joke; prank. (Dictionary.com)

Surprise!

Did you see today,

A plisky played on someone?

April's finally here!

Anne Selleck

Copyright 2017