I subscribe to a great little newsletter (one of oh so many in my bulging inbox) called A Word A Day, and every day it sends me a new word. (Funny that.) This week’s theme is archaic words; those poor tidings that we’ve forgotten; those funny smelling fat kids of the cerebral playground whom nobody ever remembers. So let’s grab four of those poor little blighters and throw them a bone, eh?
- Garboil (GAHR-boil) noun: Confusion; turmoil.
- Scrannel (SKRAN-l) adjective : Thin. Unmelodius.
- Sweven (SWEV-uhn) noun : Dream; vision.
- Ween (ween) verb : To think, suppose, believe.
The Nightmare
With scrannel sounds she Called the hounds Who broke asunder And crashed like thunder Through her sweven and dream Willing her thus to ween With garboil and dread Of a scourge yet bled.
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My name is Simonne Michelle-Wells. I'm a writer from Melbourne (originally from WA). I have a background in theatre and write theatre reviews for Australian Stage Online. In my day job I'm a speech writer. I've had short fiction published in Cottonmouth, Beyond Words, Box Magazine, The Naked Eye and the inaugural Emerging Writers' Festival Reader. I was awarded a residency at Varuna in 2008 for my first novel, and was the recipient of the 2009 Ada Cambridge Prize for biographical short story writing. I am also the blog administrator for the Varuna Alumni writers' Blog.
10 Comments
May 30, 2008 at 11:38 am
Jeepers! I was just discussing Macbeth’s witches, this one is even spookier. And also promptsite wierdnesses with the same person, so there’s a synchronicity. Your voice is wild and scratchy and thorny and scarey and ancient.
May 30, 2008 at 2:01 pm
You really should be having a go at some of the writers’ prompt sites out there and get to a wider audience. I link to loads of them. This was excellent.
May 31, 2008 at 9:14 am
Love it! Clever little muse that you are.
May 31, 2008 at 9:33 am
Paul, I’ll have to come over and check that out!
Thanks so much for the compliment Anthony. I’ll have to come and check out those links. Thanks for the heads up.
Oo, a clever muse, thanks Dawn
May 31, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Oh no, and you got Jimmy Buffet instead. Sorry. In light of your disapproval I have edited in Doc Neeson instead. Sorry, I apologise profusely for my appalling yet momentary lapse in taste.
June 3, 2008 at 9:34 am
I’m reading Through the Looking Glass at the moment – I wonder how Humpty Dumpty would interpret this poem? No matter what the egg says, I love it! Might have to dig the old dictionary out and go fishing for inspiration…
June 3, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Thanks Whiti! Yes, grab that dictionary!
June 14, 2008 at 5:30 am
interesting cool poem, i will def. use
the word scrannel.
June 14, 2008 at 5:09 pm
LOL Simonne, that was fantastic. Dare I subscribe to yet another email newsletter? Yikes.
Annie
June 15, 2008 at 5:15 am
Jade, scrannel is a beauty isn’t it?!
Annie, thanks
Yes, go on, subscribe, even if you just put them in a folder and look at them when you’re searching for some obscure word, go on! 