WORD LISTS

"The Poet X" by Elizabeth Acevedo, Part I

Wed May 02 16:24:35 EDT 2018
By Vocabulary.com (NY)Visual Thesaurus Moderator
Xiomara hides her poetry from her religious family, but when she joins a slam poetry club, she must decide whether or not she's ready for her voice to be heard. Learn these words from the acclaimed novel-in-verse by slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part I, Part II, Part III
blare
Listen to honking cabs with bachata blaring
from their open windows
compete with basketballs echoing from the Little Park.
conceited
The other girls call me conceited.
stoop
This time it's “Mira, muchacha, Marina from across the street
told me you were on the stoop again talking to los vendedores.”
sacrament
Mami has wanted me to take the sacrament
of confirmation for three years now.
confirmation
Mami has wanted me to take the sacrament
of confirmation for three years now.
blasphemous
(I know, I know...even writing that is blasphemous.)
trinity
It's not any one thing
that makes me wonder
about the capital G.O.D.

About a holy trinity
that don’t include the mother.
heathen
“Mira, muchacha,”
she starts, “I will
feed and clothe no heathens.”
elicit
She tells me if I don’t confirm here
she will send me to D.R.,
where the priests and nuns know
how to elicit true piety.
piety
She tells me if I don’t confirm here
she will send me to D.R.,
where the priests and nuns know
how to elicit true piety.
hail
When You’re Born to Old Parents

Who’d given up hope for children
and then are suddenly gifted with twins,
you will be hailed a miracle.
barrio
The neighbors will make the sign of the cross
when they see you,
thankful you were not a tumor
in your mother’s belly
like the whole barrio feared.
bodega
He will stop hanging out at the bodega
where the old men go to flirt.
shackle
This will become a despised shackle.
incense
You will be forced to go with her
until your knees learn the splinters of pews,
the mustiness of incense,
the way a priest’s robe tries to shush silent
all the echoing doubts
ringing in your heart.
penance
No one, not even your twin brother,
will understand the burden
you feel because of your birth;

your mother has sight for nothing
but you two and God;
your father seems to be serving
a penance, an oath of solitary silence.
resent
It is ungrateful to resent my own birth.
ode
Mami was born en La Capital,
in a barrio of thirst buckets
who wrote odes to her legs,
but the only man Mami wanted
was nailed to a cross.
habit
Since she was a little girl
Mami wanted to wear a habit,
wanted prayer and the closest
thing to an automatic heaven admission
she could get.
coax
He talked to us in his soft: West Indian accent,
coaxing us toward the light.
volition
“Of your own volition you will accept him into your lives.
You will be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And this is a serious matter.”
borough
Kids come from all five boroughs, and most of us bus or train,
although since it's my zone school, I can walk to it on a nice day.
icebreaker
Today, I have her first-period English,
and after an hour and fifteen minutes of icebreakers,
where we learn one another’s names
(Ms. Galiano pronounces mine right on the first try),
she gives us our first assignment:
“Write about the most impactful day of your life.”
conduct
(I got him some steel knuckles so he could defend himself, but he used them to conduct electricity for a science project instead. My brother’s a genius.)
etch
The cover is made of leather, with a woman reaching to the sky etched on the outside, and a bunch of motivational quotes scattered like flower petals throughout the pages.
motivational
The cover is made of leather, with a woman reaching to the sky etched on the outside, and a bunch of motivational quotes scattered like flower petals throughout the pages.
diorama
He even volunteered at the Bible camp this summer
and now that school’s started he’ll miss
the Stations of the Cross dioramas his campers made
from Popsicle sticks
beckon
Twin asks me if I'm okay.
And my arms don’t know
which one they want to become:
a beckoning hug or falling anvils.
anvil
Twin asks me if I'm okay.
And my arms don’t know
which one they want to become:
a beckoning hug or falling anvils.
compliant
She has a way of guilting me compliant.
disciple
When I look around the church
and none of the depictions of angels
or Jesus or Mary, not one of the disciples
look like me: morenita and big and angry.
repentance
As repentance for not participating in communion last time,
Mami makes me go
to evening Mass with her every evening this week,
even the days that aren’t confirmation class.
annotate
We’re supposed to be annotating this verse.
prophet
My brother is no psychic, no prophet,
but it makes me smile,
this secret hope we share,
that we are both good enough
for each other and maybe the world, too.
clarification
Clarification on Dating Rules

The thing is,
my old-school
Dominican parents
Do. Not. Play.

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