Poems from my Merriam-Webster Word of the Day project. For more information, look here.
confidant : one to whom secrets are entrusted
I have learned
to keep my mouth shut
no one can
shake me down
when my one confidant is
the blue jay in flight
shadorma 415 : 6/24/22
riposte : a retaliatory verbal sally : RETORT
A smart-mouthed child is
not the same as a smart child
they said. Send her to
her room. I learn: A smart child
keeps her ripostes to herself.
tanka 320 : 8/9/22
nugatory : of little or no consequence : TRIFLING, INCONSEQUENTIAL
So I hammered out
some nugatory insults
laughed at past pratfalls
threw in some rickety jokes –
You wished I’d kept my mouth shut.
tanka 356 : 11/17/22
Attributions:
“Confidant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confidant. Accessed 24 Jun. 2022.
“Riposte.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/riposte. Accessed 9 Aug. 2022.
“Nugatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nugatory. Accessed 17 November 2022.
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 
I am enjoying spotting the thematic connections between the poems in this series as you present them each time. This time I see the theme of the unsaid – or things that should have been unsaid. And you’ve taught me a new word again: nugatory.
I think it’s the first time I’ve ever known myself to know a word that you didn’t. Nugatory is familiar to me from my banking days, I seem to remember lawyers using it a lot. And I so appreciate your insight into the connections- I do try to make the poems in the group reinforce each other. Thank you.
I really like the second one. (K)
Thank you. I spent a lot of time being in trouble for a smart mouth in my younger years. Now I may also be in just as much trouble but as an adult, I don’t get sent to my room at least.
I’m not quick enough on the uptake, but I always admired those who were.
It got me into a lot of trouble, but I could not seem to stop it. Well, really, I didn’t want to. I was very strong-minded and I simply felt my opinions were good, were worth hearing, and were going to be heard! That did not come off well with adults, especially.
I do remember my father telling me not to “talk back” to my mother.
Yes, I heard that too. Though they called it “back talk”, as in “Don’t give me any back talk, young lady!”
All these made me laugh! I never had a “smart mouth” but a friend of mine was forever grounded for her back talk and “sass”!
I was famous in our family for my smart mouth. How many times did I get sent to my room I cannot tell you.