Amacale (ah MA cah lee): a time when one is out walking and upon seeing a cloud that appears to be angel-like, suddenly gains awareness that everything is going to be all right.
Bthar (Buh THAR): a light state of meditation when one has the inability to open one’s eyes but to still has the lingering desire to do so.
Cattratcat (Ca TRAT cat): the desire to be understood during conversation with someone who remains on a different plane of thought.
Dych (Deh yatch): to hold inside something that needs to be said, and then to keep it in as a treasured memory to remind one of the stupidity of strength.
Ehlst (Eh LESST): when one with a non-delusional mind hears a non-existent sound and absorbs meaning from the experience.
Fmot (EFF met): an essay written (either on paper or in sand) for the sole purpose of solving an otherworldly puzzle unique to only that one person.
Gizeheh (GIZ eh eh): a welling up of emotion, rooted in sadness, but felt as one feels an oncoming sneeze.
Hyfach (HI fatch): when the idea of love feels like a tapeworm in the heart area but the feeling moves around and gets a little too close to the small capillaries in the lungs.
Ibetinta (I bet tint a): a menu of emotions that appears inside the mind upon awakening from deep sleep that one takes to the breakfast table.
Jymole (Jah mo lay): an emotion that feels like spreading butter on burned toast.
Kontotten (Kon TOT ten): the process of matching sounds to feelings to create new words.
Leabolk (LEE bolk): to read something, then to stop and combine your thoughts with the experience of the distant author–seeking unity.
Mecalthana (Me CAL than a): the attitude one must adopt when trying to communicate with all that is unseen.
Nibexit (NEE becks it): a moment, shorter in length than a nanosecond, when change is captured and used to augment personal relationships.
Ocazal (OH ca zall): when a group of inattentive strangers walks by experienced street musicians who are playing music and clapping their hands.
Pfagutalah (PIF a goo tall ah): a smell imprinted in the brain so strongly that it enters into long-term memory.
Qr (Kw REER): an object that feels like a pebble in the sock of one’s soul yet causes one to make a guttural sound in the throat.
Sylitric (Sill IT trick): the undercurrent felt when one relinquishes all of their money onto the ground and stands on it, unsure of the next sequential step.
Temboriche (Tem BOR ishe): the engagement of two people who are simultaneously trying to solve each other’s problems.
Ucupu (YOU coo poo): a prayer that time will suspend itself, please, when one is traveling through a landscape created by something other than man.
Vobsivob (vob SEE vob): when one leans into the wind, arms outstretched, desperate to be airborne.
Wyhale (Wie HALE): the act of keeping a clear path—the actual removal of imaginary obstacles by unsticking them from the mind in a calm, reasoned ritual.
Xegic (ZEG ic): the transition from being unwell to the beginning of healing.
Yokompi (Yo KOM pee): a time of bothersome things being positives (such as the noises of a vacuum cleaner) when one is trying to concentrate on writing a love letter.
Zusicrom (ZOO see krom): when something breaks, but in the brokenness one sees more beauty than before.
NOTES: Thank you to MV Blake (http://mvblake.com/2015/05/02/wordsinoctave/) for giving me the inspiration to find this glossary that I wrote in 2010. And thank you to Anthony Cinquepalmi, a friend, who at that time, was an undergraduate at Arizona State University (he probably is still a poet). Regarding new words and their definitions, I continue to live with the question of translating feelings and thoughts into words and their arrangement.
We human beings string sounds together–as if they were pearls–and create jewelry of meaning day after night and night after day and wear it without much thought…until a new word bubbles up from that wonder of all wonders: Conscious Energy.
NOTE: This poem was inspired by a post on Medium by Abby Norman. She is a young writer navigating the world of writing as it exists today. I celebrate the way she thinks. I celebrate the agent who believes in her! And, I celebrate the book pictured here–it was one of the very best edits of my entire career and I love how it is laying in wait to see how the sands of time and the eyes of humanity will deal with it. It is the most unusual and esoteric book I ever read (or edited) and it has been like a ride at an amusement park because it did expand the essence of my soul. The protagonist is a girlwomangirl, age 12 and age 42 at the same time. She is at times a walking heartbreak, a stand up comedienne and a time traveler with Oreos in her backpack. It was this book that demonstrated for me how a book makes its own progress into this world. It allowed me to see the “L” that separates “word” from “world.”
mfourlbyhfourepoetry 