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Ordinary Hazards: List 2

In this memoir, told in verse, poet Nikki Grimes explores her traumatic childhood and the development of her love of writing.

Here are links to our lists for the memoir: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
40 words 64 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. happenstance
    an accidental event that seems to have been arranged
    It gobbles up all available space
    
in the brain,
    leaves little room to mark

    daily happenstances,

    or even routine injuries
    
which are less than
    
life-threatening.
  2. innocuous
    lacking intent or capacity to injure
    Innocuous classroom feuds?

    Gone.
  3. forge
    create by hammering
    I've bridged the gaps

    with suspension cables
    forged of steely gratitude
    
for having survived my past
    
at all.
  4. throng
    a large gathering of people
    I focused on
    cutting through the throng
    to the local train station
    and studying the subway maps
    during the long ride
    to a place in Brooklyn
    I’d try to learn to call
    “home.”
  5. festoon
    decorate or adorn
    I’d have turned around to see who “she” was, but Mom nudged me forward, and ushered me directly into a wood-paneled room festooned with WELCOME HOME banners, pink streamers, and balloons bigger than my head.
  6. parquet
    a floor made of a patterned wood inlay
    The furniture was pushed against the wall, dance music blared, and busy feet already pounded the parquet floor.
  7. wizened
    lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness
    “Get out!” shouted the store owner, a wizened old Korean gentleman.
  8. siphon
    convey, draw off, or empty by or as if by a tube
    The mere thought siphons air
    from my windpipes,
    and experience tells me
    a full-blown asthma attack
    can’t be far behind.
  9. abject
    most unfortunate or miserable
    And just like that,
    my abject fear
    morphed into fury.
  10. deliverance
    recovery or preservation from loss or danger
    DELIVERANCE

    Desperate for stories
    of outrageous adventure
    to ferry me far from
    my world and my mind,
    I reach for my stash
    of library offerings
  11. lore
    knowledge gained through tradition or anecdote
    ...I’m fortunate to find
    a weathered volume,
    blue as the sea,
    bulging with Viking lore
    suited to me,
    tales that can
    sail me away.
  12. gauzy
    so thin as to transmit light
    Flames licked the sides of each jar as wind
    whistled through the room, sucking the
    gauzy curtains half out the windows,
    then blowing them in again.
  13. semblance
    the outward or apparent appearance or form of something
    An eerie drone rose from the center of the room
    where my mother stood humming and
    swaying her body in a semblance of dance.
  14. filmy
    so thin as to transmit light
    She whirled round and round in
    her filmy peignoir, her eyes flecked
    with wildness, her bare feet silently brushing
    the floor, her mind in some private galaxy of thought.
  15. lucid
    capable of thinking in a clear and consistent manner
    She could’ve won
    a dozen Oscars
    for convincing doctors
    she was lucid as you or me.
  16. ward
    block forming a division of a hospital shared by patients
    The Snake Pit is only entertainment
    if you’ve never lived it,
    never walked the halls
    of a psychiatric ward,
    squeezing past bug-eyed strangers
    in oversized pajamas
  17. tremulous
    quivering as from weakness or fear
    My much-rehearsed grin
    and tremulous hello
    elicited the usual
    drug-induced spasmodic twitch
    routinely followed by
    the catatonic stare.
  18. elicit
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
    My much-rehearsed grin
    and tremulous hello
    elicited the usual
    drug-induced spasmodic twitch
    routinely followed by
    the catatonic stare.
  19. spasmodic
    affected by involuntary jerky muscular contractions
    My much-rehearsed grin
    and tremulous hello
    elicited the usual
    drug-induced spasmodic twitch
    routinely followed by
    the catatonic stare.
  20. catatonic
    characterized by unresponsiveness or lack of movement
    My much-rehearsed grin
    and tremulous hello
    elicited the usual
    drug-induced spasmodic twitch
    routinely followed by
    the catatonic stare.
  21. versed
    thoroughly acquainted through study or experience
    I caught Mom reading about
    the Freedom Rides
    and was well-versed in the
    horrors of lynching
    long before puberty.
  22. lynch
    kill without legal sanction
    I caught Mom reading about
    the Freedom Rides
    and was well-versed in the
    horrors of lynching
    long before puberty.
  23. excise
    remove by cutting
    I’ll just have to meet her
    on the other side, where racism
    has been excised
    and justice is
    common as dirt.
  24. hedge
    enclose as with a row of closely planted shrubs or bushes
    A young man named James Meredith
    flashed across the screen,
    hedged in by snarling white men,
    women, and even children,
    celebrating their communal hatred
    by pummeling this brown man-child
    with eggs and epithets
    I wasn’t allowed to use.
  25. communal
    for or by a group rather than individuals
    A young man named James Meredith
    flashed across the screen,
    hedged in by snarling white men,
    women, and even children,
    celebrating their communal hatred
    by pummeling this brown man-child
    with eggs and epithets
    I wasn’t allowed to use.
  26. epithet
    a defamatory or abusive word or phrase
    A young man named James Meredith
    flashed across the screen,
    hedged in by snarling white men,
    women, and even children,
    celebrating their communal hatred
    by pummeling this brown man-child
    with eggs and epithets
    I wasn’t allowed to use.
  27. clandestine
    conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods
    CLANDESTINE CHRISTMAS

    Clark’s son, Ronald,
    came for a Christmas sleepover.
  28. placate
    cause to be more favorably inclined
    Mom placated me by suggesting
    we open one gift apiece
    before going to bed.
  29. flourish
    a showy gesture
    Mom would lay down
    her winning hand with a flourish,
    fanning the cards out
    in front of her
    like some show-off.
  30. deign
    do something that one considers to be below one's dignity
    He didn’t even deign
    to look up.
  31. seethe
    be in an agitated emotional state
    The August heat
    added to the fire
    in my bones,
    and no amount of
    ice cold pop
    could cool
    the seething inside me.
  32. splendiferous
    extraordinarily grand or impressive
    ...the friends
    I do remember
    were splendiferous.
  33. revelation
    an enlightening or astonishing disclosure
    Thirteen was a year
    of revelation.
  34. detestable
    offensive to the mind
    I turned out to look
    not so bad, thank God—
    despite my detestable
    horn-rimmed glasses.
  35. voluptuous
    (of a woman's body) having a large bosom and pleasing curves
    My sister—damn her—
    turned out to be voluptuous,
    while I was merely cute.
  36. insufferable
    extremely unpleasant or annoying
    It hardly seemed fair,
    but, for the record,
    by thirteen,
    I ended up the tallest
    in my family, a proud fact
    which, at times,
    made me insufferable.
  37. proboscis
    a long flexible snout as of an elephant
    But, the way I figured,
    since she’d saddled me
    with this oversized proboscis,
    I had every reason to tease
    her limited stature.
  38. discordant
    lacking in harmony
    I woke to voices clanging
    like a discordant gong.
  39. strew
    spread by scattering
    He ushered me into
    the mess of his
    two-bedroom flat,
    clothes strewn everywhere,
    dirty dishes in the sink,
    nothing in its place.
  40. ply
    apply oneself diligently
    Instead of plying me
    with questions
    I wasn’t ready to answer,
    he reached for me
    and, after a moment’s hesitation,
    I let his arm
    make itself at home
    around my shoulder
Created on Tue Mar 10 10:12:52 EDT 2020 (updated Tue Mar 10 14:40:33 EDT 2020)

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