Wordbirds, 22

This new series—“Wordbirds”—arises from a journey I am taking through my Webster’s 3rd Dictionary. What I’m doing: I look on the first page for each letter, and the first word that flies up at me (because I don’t know it, because I just think it’s interesting, etc.) becomes the subject for that day’s doggerel. I will move through letter z, then work my way back again, the second time using the last page of each letter’s section of Webster's. Let’s see what happens ...

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

vaccary noun

cow pasture; dairy farm

The bull enjoyed the vaccary

Where everything he loved was free:

The air and water, feed of course—

And not a single hated horse.

He had extensive room to browse—

But best of all? So many cows!

They were so willing, all of them,

And all of that delighted him.

And so our bull enjoyed his days—

To drink and love and blithely graze.

No worries—none!—of job or spouse—

Just one wee thing: the slaughterhouse. 

Wordbirds, 21

This new series—“Wordbirds”—arises from a journey I am taking through my Webster’s 3rd Dictionary. What I’m doing: I look on the first page for each letter, and the first word that flies up at me (because I don’t know it, because I just think it’s interesting, etc.) becomes the subject for that day’s doggerel. I will move through letter z, then work my way back again, the second time using the last page of each letter’s section of Webster's. Let’s see what happens ...

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

uang noun

rhinocerous beetle

This is some weird news to disclose:

She found a uang parked in her nose.

I guess it really kind of shows

A beetle almost always goes

Just where it wants to go. (Our woes

Increase!) So … careful when you doze!

Wordbirds, 20

This new series—“Wordbirds”—arises from a journey I am taking through my Webster’s 3rd Dictionary. What I’m doing: I look on the first page for each letter, and the first word that flies up at me (because I don’t know it, because I just think it’s interesting, etc.) becomes the subject for that day’s doggerel. I will move through letter z, then work my way back again, the second time using the last page of each letter’s section of Webster's. Let’s see what happens ...

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

tabella noun

a medicinal lozenge or tablet

He popped a small tabella, for

His throat was raw and very sore.

Another one soon followed next

Because he got an angry text.

And then he took another since

He was a fellow somewhat dense.

But soon tabellae all were gone,

And he had none to suck upon.

And on that sad and fateful day

He sat and grieved—then passed away.

“Tabella fella”—that’s the name

They gave him: Oh, such lasting fame!

Wordbirds, 19

This new series—“Wordbirds”—arises from a journey I am taking through my Webster’s 3rd Dictionary. What I’m doing: I look on the first page for each letter, and the first word that flies up at me (because I don’t know it, because I just think it’s interesting, etc.) becomes the subject for that day’s doggerel. I will move through letter z, then work my way back again, the second time using the last page of each letter’s section of Webster's. Let’s see what happens ...

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

sably  adv.

blackly, darkly

Claude always thought so sabły that

His friends were worried, and his cat,

Concerned, ignored a giant rat

That wandered through the gloomy place—

Right by, in fact, the cat’s fat face.

(The rat enjoyed expansive space.)

The problem, if you want to know,

Was Claude put on a daily show

Of reading Edgar Allan Poe.

And thus he lost his life's strong spark—

Preferred a raven to a lark—

And spent his life in darkest Dark. 

Wordbirds, 18

This new series—“Wordbirds”—arises from a journey I am taking through my Webster’s 3rd Dictionary. What I’m doing: I look on the first page for each letter, and the first word that flies up at me (because I don’t know it, because I just think it’s interesting, etc.) becomes the subject for that day’s doggerel. I will move through letter z, then work my way back again, the second time using the last page of each letter’s section of Webster's. Let’s see what happens ...

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

rubulistic adj.

characterized by railing or pettifoggery

That rubulistic SOB—

Oh, what an awful pain he was!—

Why did he always rail at me?

I knew it couldn't be because

I earned such frequent foul disdain.

He acted as a bully does—

He tried to smear my life with stain—

To get inside my troubled brain—

He's really not hard to explain. 

Wordbirds, 17

This new series—“Wordbirds”—arises from a journey I am taking through my Webster’s 3rd Dictionary. What I’m doing: I look on the first page for each letter, and the first word that flies up at me (because I don’t know it, because I just think it’s interesting, etc.) becomes the subject for that day’s doggerel. I will move through letter z, then work my way back again, the second time using the last page of each letter’s section of Webster's. Let’s see what happens ...

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

Quabird. noun

a black-crowned night heron

The quabird much preferred the night,

Where everything to him seemed right—

The fish, the water, little light. 

A hungry hunter sought him out

(He knew what herons are about).

He  fired! He missed! Commenced to pout!

And while he pouted thataway,

The quabird in a quick display,

Just spread his wings and flew away. 

Wordbirds, 16

This new series—“Wordbirds”—arises from a journey I am taking through my Webster’s 3rd Dictionary. What I’m doing: I look on the first page for each letter, and the first word that flies up at me (because I don’t know it, because I just think it’s interesting, etc.) becomes the subject for that day’s doggerel. I will move through letter z, then work my way back again, the second time using the last page of each letter’s section of Webster's. Let’s see what happens ...

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

pacate adj.

tranquil, peaceful

It started out a pacate day

Beneath the Arizona sky.

But Tombstone lived another way,

So bullets soon began to fly.

Old Wyatt and his brothers and

Doc Holliday (his pal)—

A formidable and fiery band—

Shot up the famed O.K. Corral.

And so it goes for pacate days:

They sometimes don't turn out the best—

For shootists and their guns will blaze—

Or so it was out in the West.