Wordbirds, 36

We’ve commenced our journey backward through Webster’s 3rd. I’m picking a word near the end of each entry for each letter—a word that interests me for some reason or a word I’d not ever known before—and surrounding it with a frayed coat of doggerel.

Words that flew into my life from Webster’s 3rd …

quoz adj.

something queer or absurd

That wizard (yes, the one from Oz)

Turned out to be a little quoz.

Behind that celebrated screen

He was not what they’d wished they’d seen.

Instead—an ordinary guy

Whose “power” led the crowds awry.

But Dorothy did all that she could—

And whirled home—and that’s all good.

Her transformed friends remained behind

Where they were never more maligned.

And so the moral of our rhyme?

The wish for home wins every time.