tedium

Restricted to bed --
unsick yet unwell:
tedium overcomes and overwhelms:
each minute drips viscous,
the tar-like residue of my confinement.

Waiting, waiting...
my stir-crazed mind
inventing disorders,
creating symptoms...
as the world goes on outside.

©2005 b.cisek

pastiche

(1) Shall I compare [her] to a summer's day?
Or claim (2) she walks in beauty like the night?
The (3) beautiful dreamer [wakes] unto me
(4) Because the sun's and her power is the same
(5) Where, whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew.

©2005 b.cisek

credits:

(1) William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18; (2) Lord Byron, "She Walks in Beauty"; (3) Stephen Foster, "Beautiful Dreamer"; (4) Henry Constable, "My lady's presence makes the roses red"; (5) Edmund Spenser, "One day I wrote her name upon the strand"

(pastiche • \pass-TEESH\ • noun *1 : a literary, artistic, musical, or architectural work that imitates the style of previous work; also : such stylistic imitation 2 a : a musical, literary, or artistic composition made up of selections from different works : potpourri b : hodgepodge) ~ definition courtesy of merriam-webster online

fey

Plunking down chips
and saying a little prayer:
crossing fingers and scratching elbows:
counting cards
in an attempt to beat the odds.

the gambler's fate is destiny's punchline...

©2005 b.cisek

(fey • \FAY\ • adjective 1 a chiefly Scottish : fated to die : doomed b : marked by a foreboding of death or calamity)
definition courtesy of merriam-webster online

versicle

P: May (fill in the blank) be with you.

R: And also with you.

©2005 b.cisek

(ver-si-cle \vur-si-k&l\: noun, a short sentence chanted by a priest and followed by a congregational response)

brickbat

I could face an insult head-on,
I could endure the silent treatment quietly;
I'm certain I could even match a tantrum, with my own fit of bad temper.
But your stony stare is the brickbat that shattered my heart.

©2005 b.cisek

(brickbat \'brik-"bat\: noun, 1 : a fragment of a hard material (as a brick ); especially : one used as a missile; 2 : an uncomplimentary remark)

aleatory

The floor was littered with rose petals, dewy from her tears:
How is it that each single bloom could end with the dreaded, "he loves me not" --
Even a crystal ball could not have foretold
the nature of his aleatory intentions....
©2005 b.cisek

(aleatory • \AY-lee-uh-tor-ee\ • adjective 1 : depending on an uncertain event or contingency 2 : relating to luck and especially to bad luck *3 : characterized by chance or random elements )

~ definition courtesy of merriam-webster online

wanderlust

The stone rolled a good distance from the stream:
this looks like a good place to settle
--it thought to itself, cozily nesting in the damp ground--
perhaps i can gather moss.

Now, of course, was as good a time as any.
After all, the stone had lost all its craggy edges
rolling, rolling, rolling
for what seemed like eons of time.

Smoothened, flattened, leveled,
it now submitted itself to the elements.
Turning its back on the wanderlust
of its rough and tumble youth.

©2005 b.cisek

pusillanimous

Mrs. Julia Benitez one day awoke and covered all the mirrors in her room.

All that she was worth
and all that she thought of herself

burned down to ashes, including her hopes
and will to survive.

She never had to learn to struggle

and could not imagine strife.

Sheltered all her life, the woman covered mirrors

in a pusillanimous attempt
to hide.

©2005 b.cisek

(pusillanimous /pyoo's&-lan'&-m&as/: adj., faint-hearted; cowardly)

ululate

troubled, torrid, tornado
emotions--
the wicked witch-bitch inside
ululates Thoreau's ancient (morbid) ululu
chanting, screeching
--scratching at this soul's buried secrets
with daggered nails
she breaks through sanity

©2005 b.cisek

(ululate • \ULL-yuh-layt\ • verb : howl, wail)
~ definition coutesy of merriam-webster online

jingoism

jingo bush
jingo bush

jingo all the way

oh what fun it is to right
the world in your own way --

hey!

©2005 b.cisek

(jingoism • \JING-goh-iz-um\ • noun : extreme chauvinism or nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy)

~ definition courtesy of merriam-webster online

"WORD"

There is thought in word
spoken-written/sense-nonsense
where the idea is good-bad/passable-laughable
(and every word in between)
To provoke
To humor
To appease… caution… instruct… deliver…
communicate… lament… frustrate… breakdown…

w
o
r
d
s

are bridges in the stream of consciousness

In the beginning there is the Word
in the end, perhaps
a sigh
an absence
a last breath
a thought no longer

©2005 b.cisek