lap•i•dar•y /lápideree/ adj. & n.

1. concerned with stone or stones.
2. (of writing style) dignified and concise, suitable for inscriptions.
3. (n.) a cutter, polisher, or engraver of gems.

She fusses with her dress a bit and sings the opening lines from Black Swan. When she floats over to what's left of the sofa and rests beside me, she sets to work her lapidary imagination and walks her transparent fingers across my thigh. Fingers like tines breaking apart my meatloaf dreams.

os•si•fy /ósifi/ v.tr.

1. turn into bone.
2. make or become rigid or unprogressive.

When the topic turned to international dental systems and then golf, he became more ossified than ever and gathering up the delicate, loose material of his shirt into the form of a shovel he dug his way across the crowded room shaking his head no, no.

re•crim•i•na•to•ry /rikríminetawree/ adj.

1. make mutual or counter accusations.

"Did you eat my last piece of bread?"
I had, but rather than admit it, I gave my roommate a recriminatory look and added, "When can I expect your rent?"

keen /keen/ n. & v.


1. a lamentation for the dead uttered in a loud wailing voice or in a wordless cry.



Trish fell, her composure popping like a plastic cup under a tire, when the hairdresser removed the dryer revealing the haircut that would end her marriage; the lady next to her was pointing while the faces pressed up to the window keened intractably.

in•trac•ta•ble /intráktebel/ adj.


1. hard to control or deal with.


They fumbled about in the dark, groping and squeezing at the intractable erection.

'pid /'pid/ adj.

1. stupid.



Dat's tha muthafuka gots me up wit dat shit an I ain't 'pid, I's a watchin, alaway watchin.

cu•ri•o /kyooreeo/ n.

1. a rare or unusual object or person.



Surely there are more dignified ways of going out than falling on a sharp curio in an antique store in New England?

dif•fi•dent /dífident/ adj.


1. shy; lacking self-confidence.
2. excessively reticent.


The old polish lady who sat next to him was carrying a bag filled with chicken legs. He pictured them leaping up out of the bag, playfully, mischievously rubbing against the others making squeak toy noises as they moved. Children would shriek with joy. The woman with the nice eyes would touch him on his paunchy shoulder and emit a soft sound that means "something amazing is happening", a leg would then leap into her arms to be cradled. He would rise and they would stand there, all together on the gum stained subway platform and sing. Oh how they would sing! YES...but...no. Not today. Today the legs would remain diffident and still, soaking in their own blood.

dis•in•ter /dísinter/ v.tr.

1. remove (esp. a corpse) from the ground: unearth.
2. find after a protracted search.


John Arbor raised his yellow plastic fork, sunk it deep into the muck and disinterred the still warm cigarello while the small crowd of winos that had gathered swayed gently to the sound of Unchained Melody weezing out of a busted-ass Coby FM radio.

dis•tend /disténd/ v.tr. & intr.

1. swell out from pressure within.


"And that's final." He lay his hands across his distended belly, his calm stare augering clean through the side of Richard's face.

dul•cet /dúlsit/ adj.

1. (esp. of sound) sweet and soothing.


Somewhere in the icebox of my mind there are your tigers.

der•rick /dérik/ n.

1. a hoisting apparatus.
2. framework over a hole, drill hole for supporting machinery (oil).


As he derricked himself over her, she thought of her orchard, the rows of apple trees, how the apples would be intermittently falling, how the little crooked toothed Mexican kids would be shaking the branches, clutching greedily at the fruit, how she would later find the rows plundered, empty, naked in the fall breeze, twisted like arthritic claws, how she would load her shotgun and catching a glimpse of herself in the front entry way mirror, would smile warm and benevolent; how even after her retribution had soothed her pain, packaged and sealed it like unidentifiable remains under a public monument, she thought it funny that she could let this man into the delicate foyer of her womb but was incapable of letting him stumble into her refridgerator heart.

mod•i•cum /módikem/ n.

1. a small quantity.



When the morning slipped in there would be a modicum of guilt involved, but she knew it was nothing next to the exhilaration of a reckless night of peering out from behind the shirts in Ted's closet making cricket noises.

in•or•di•nate /ináwrd'net/ adj.

1. exceeding reasonable limits.
2. immoderate.


The argument that 3 consecutive life sentences for jay-walking is substantially inordinate was scoffed at by Judge Judy: ultimate truth machine.

den•tin /dént'n/ n.

1. A hard, dense, bony tissue forming the bulk of a tooth.


Even through the closet doors she could recognize that voice; the long syrupy vowels punctured by consonants that hit like a pen cap galloping against freshly brushed dentin: her evil twin robot sister cousin motherfucker.