When Clouds Touch Us: Part II

by Thanhha Lai
In this sequel to Inside Out & Back Again, twelve-year-old Hà must learn how to adapt again when her family moves from Alabama to Texas.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part I, Part II, Part III
40 words 53 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. inevitable
    incapable of being avoided or prevented
    Day two
    no one remembers
    my name (Hà)
    or its inevitable (Ha Ha Ha).
  2. frenzied
    excessively agitated
    A junior high
    frenzied like bees
    from a dropped hive.
  3. ail
    cause physical suffering to and make sick or indisposed
    “I don’t suffer from hiccups.”

    Whatever ails you,
    go manage it.
  4. anticipate
    be excited or anxious about
    I prefer my Friday,
    anticipating 11 p.m.
    to reclaim Mother
    from a paint-peeled factory.
  5. deem
    judge or regard in a particular way
    Birth month and day,
    unrecorded, were deemed
    meaningless to fate.
  6. inconvenience
    an unwanted discomfort
    Inconveniences
    at your feet
    do not matter,
    Mother advises,
    lengthen your gaze
    toward where
    land meets clouds.
  7. raiment
    especially fine or decorative clothing
    Must be my essay,
    as she’s warned against
    gripping the thesaurus:
    clothes, not raiment,
    confusion, not bedlam.
  8. strain
    use to the utmost; exert vigorously or to full capacity
    Late at night
    he cooks for the next day
    while straining muscles on
    iron-pipe arms, boulder-slab legs.
  9. caramelize
    heat so as to make brown and sweet
    Vu Lee chops onions,
    giving my eyes
    reason to rim red,
    then caramelizes
    boiled eggs with pork.
  10. saute
    fry briefly over high heat
    He sautés greens
    in our soup pot.
  11. irate
    feeling or showing extreme anger
    A couple is announced
    when a boy presents a girl
    with a buckle
    size of a rice bowl
    pinching to her ribs
    in bronze or silver
    engraved with a cowboy
    clutching an irate horse.
  12. puncture
    pierce with a pointed object; make a hole into
    We follow him
    to a playground
    surrounded by grass
    sticky with thorny balls:
    stabbing soles,
    bleeding ankles,
    puncturing fingers.
  13. scorching
    hot and dry enough to burn or parch a surface
    Walking home,
    the heat scorching
    even inside eyelids,
    I fume at Vu Lee
    for accepting
    twenty dollars a week.
  14. quota
    a prescribed number
    To meet quota of
    seventy-five per hour
    coworkers slip
    into her bin
    their fast-finger extras.
  15. lilt
    a jaunty rhythm in music or speech
    Her silky lilts, though,
    cannot hide exhaustion.
  16. prompt
    urge, encourage, or motivate someone to act
    She prompts,
    “Now your name.”
  17. mediocre
    lacking exceptional quality or ability
    Doesn’t matter
    where from,
    which position,
    tall / short,
    gifted / mediocre,
    every player idolizes
    best ever Brazil’s Pelé.
  18. swoon
    be overwhelmed with ecstasy, especially when encountering something or someone you admire
    The team names her
    Five-O Pelé,
    who shoulder-bumps
    my shy brother.
    While he bites his lip,
    Diggy and I
    swoon for him.
  19. taut
    pulled or drawn tight
    Diggy teaches me
    to flat-palm offer a carrot
    toward lips of rubbery disks,
    legs sturdy as branches,
    jaws taut like ship bows,
    neck brown velvety grassy.
  20. fledgling
    young and inexperienced
    I reach and warm pat
    the back of her hand.

    She pats back,
    accepting my
    fledgling cocoon.
  21. brood
    the young of an animal cared for at one time
    They’re combing puddles
    for mosquito larvae,
    choosing white tender ones
    for a brood learning to chew.
  22. vanity
    feelings of excessive pride
    How I teased her to release
    a tiny amount toward
    shoes not dragged sệt-sệt,
    pants not squeezed and belted.

    Bà Hai laughed at vanity
    leading to wastefulness.
  23. resort
    have recourse to
    Be agreeable,
    you’ll know soon enough.

    When Mother resorts to
    “soon enough”
    my nape muscles
    toughen to jerky.
  24. checkered
    patterned with alternating squares of color
    From Kmart:
    four pants wide in legs,
    seven tops fluttery bright,
    checkered skirt and matching vest,
    sandals one-finger-notch high.
  25. ideal
    conforming to an ultimate standard of perfection
    I stare straight
    at flat and brown.

    Not ideal
    in view or friend,
    but I sink into
    a yearlong spot.
  26. swaddle
    wrap very tightly in cloth, as a baby
    No complaining on
    Vietnamese Mother’s Day
    as I hand fan while swaddled
    in white silk pants under
    a skin-wrapped áo dài
    covering neck to knees.
  27. suitable
    worthy of being chosen
    Harmless to seek
    a suitable boy
    of northern heritage,
    education documented,
    lineage matching ours.
  28. lineage
    inherited properties shared with others of your bloodline
    Harmless to seek
    a suitable boy
    of northern heritage,
    education documented,
    lineage matching ours.
  29. rebuttal
    the speech act of refuting by offering a contrary argument
    The owner declines.

    Five-O and I
    have rehearsed
    every rebuttal.
  30. enunciate
    speak, pronounce, or utter in a certain way
    In truth
    my gut butterflies
    poof to dust
    anticipating
    where to sit on the bus,
    eat a bag lunch,
    how to join a team,
    enunciate an oral report.
  31. acquire
    win something through one's efforts
    “You too acquired As
    except in writing?”
  32. hamlet
    a community of people smaller than a village
    “We’re going to learn about
    something unquestionably
    not fun,
    the My Lai Massacre.”

    Photographs:
    hamlet scorched,
    survivors wailing,
    entangled bloody bodies of
    women, children, men, infants.
  33. commute
    exchange a penalty for a less severe one
    “Up to five hundred four civilians were murdered,
    twenty-six American soldiers charged,
    only Lieutenant William Calley convicted,
    President Nixon commuted his sentence.”
  34. denote
    be a sign or indication of
    Details denote
    contemplation beyond
    flashy interpretation.
  35. atrocity
    an act of shocking cruelty
    If I’d chosen anger,
    I would have overflowed
    days, months, years
    and still not alter
    war atrocities.
  36. contemplate
    reflect deeply on a subject
    Contemplate on yourself
    until you’re a solid anchor,
    then ensure kindness to family
    then society then earth.
  37. casual
    appropriate for ordinary or routine occasions
    Angie arrives
    with three others,
    all in jeans and tops
    casual yet debated.
  38. persevere
    be persistent, refuse to stop
    I won’t be
    tormenting myself
    that night,
    but how to persevere
    that day?
  39. propagate
    cause to multiply, as by grafting or layering
    A girl who
    signs report cards,
    propagates a pungent flower,
    claims a bus seat.
  40. pungent
    strong and sharp to the sense of taste or smell
    A girl who
    signs report cards,
    propagates a pungent flower,
    claims a bus seat.
Created on Mon Jul 29 09:54:17 EDT 2024 (updated Mon Jul 29 15:45:55 EDT 2024)

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