A Visual Thesaurus Verse for the New Year

As we settle into 2011, Visual Thesaurus contributor Bob Greenman has been reflecting on the past year of writing for the VT. Join Bob as he takes a versified look back at how he has been inspired by his "lexicon-muse."

It's twenty eleven, we're back on the scene,
Submitting for your delectation,
A daily pastiche, a mélange, if you will,  
A platter for your satiation.

If in two thousand ten you relished Visual Thesaurus,
It's a pretty safe bet you love words less or morus. 
And if you've delighted in boosting your vocab,
You can credit that partly to this online language lab.

It's Zimmer I'm thinking of, Baron and Friedman,
Hargraves and Peters, Whitman and Greenman.
Tips on writing, too, on teaching and grammar,
Gently presented, all without clamor.

It's Lydon for that, right? And Brenner and Reed,
Glickman and Rubiner, voices to heed.
Carey and Shults, Daphne Gray-Grant,
Dunaway, too, all there to enchant.

They explain, entertain, they discourse, let the light in,
No wonder the plaudits of readers who write in.
As for me, I must say I've enjoyed it immensely,
Selecting locutions, searching intensely.

I talked about twaddle, piffle, blather and tripe,
Tawdry hucksters in Hollywood, them and their hype.
When I wrote about Daisy, my canine predominant,
Appellation, admonition, fait accompli were dominant.

Is lemon peel de rigueur in Boston espresso?
Ugh, "repugnant," said some waiters, others "Why not so?"
Can't believe so late in life I learned the meaning of savory,
It's the opposite of sweet, like sauces and gravery.

The tribute I paid when the school year began, 
To an ardent and magical, spellbinding man
Included some words linked to teachers unlike him,
Supercilious, bullying, noncommittal and quite dim.

Sampling a soupçon of cocktails abundant                                                  
I tasted each once, I was never redundant.
Daiquiri, grasshopper, pink lady, zombie,                                                    
A whole constellation I once thought beyond me.

In glittering crowds and canyons of steel
I found Rockefeller Center's quotidian appeal.                                                      
One night, though, my euphoric, effervescent elation
Got me spurned, rebuffed, rejected from a kiss's consummation.

On the road with my father during  weeks-long school vacations,                    
I collected hapless snakes, speedy skinks and crustaceans.
Lots of traveling time for convivial banter,
Driving west to Detroit, and south to Atlanter.

With oblivion the fate of half my keyboard's letters,
A conundrum left me shackled, chained in mental fetters.
The E, the A, the I, the O, had, of course, explainable pathology,
But where is the hierophant who'll explain my faint G's etiology.

The new year begins, I have more words to pitch,
Some will delight, I hope all will enrich.                                                   
Can't tell at the moment the words I will choose,
So much depends on my lexicon-muse.

You may see lubricious, mephitic, and feign,
Disgruntled, farrago, interregnum, inane.
You may see uxorious, vilify, cagey,
Lacuna, granitic, verboten and stagey.

Possibly lachrymose, rue, acquiesce,
Efflorescence, effervescence, histrionic, deliquesce.                              
Acrimonious, captious, gawp, remuneration,
Exponential, dunderhead, flout, elucidation.

So please, be my guest again, as I go on this quest again,                              
Bringing you words that enhance             
Your writing, your reading, your thinking, your speaking,
Engaged in our language romance.