Week in Seven Words #577

This covers the week of 2/7/21 - 2/13/21.

dork

The role she's been asked to audition for is an improbable one: the effortlessly gorgeous, socially awkward female nerd who's such a dork but never really says or does anything unattractive, she's just, you know, a dork with glasses and fashionable heels.

icy

The pond is clinking with ice, the shores crusty with slush and mud.

knotty

I meet him for the first time beside a tree with a heart-shaped knot.

lacework

Low branches turned to lacework by the snow.

mafia

The head and torso of the snowman are propped up on a bench, like a grim warning from the snowman mafia. ("Double-cross us, and you too will be disassembled before you melt.")

timeworn

It's cute how the author thinks that pairing a character in his 60s with a woman in her 20s is edgy.

unhelpful

"My problems," she says, "are about not asking for help when I need it, and getting the kind of help that holds me back."

Week in Seven Words #298

convulsed
A piece of driftwood rocks in the middle of the bay, when a sea gull launches off of it.

enigmatic
The warped stone sculpture could be many things. I see it as a woman wearing a cowl.

nosh
He returns to the table with beer, pretzels, and hummus.

sheathe
Pettiness encased in righteous sentiment.

splashiness
One man has shimmering birds on his shirt. Another wears a sunset on his shorts. A woman puts on a swim dress in pastel American flag colors. Underneath it, her bathing suit is a riot of neon green and orange, colors straight out of the opening credits to a Nickelodeon show.

terms
She's stuck on an algebra problem. "We're going to help you," they tell her. They look over her shoulder. "Why don't you just take out the variables?" "I can't do that," she says. They shake their heads. "You're making things too complicated. Just remove the variables, and you're good." She tries to explain the problem to them, but they cut her off. "Why are you being so difficult?" they say. "We want to help you."

tissue
Some of his tattoos seem to spring from his muscles like strips of animated film. His other tattoos are more static and turn his chest and back into a billboard ad.

Week in Seven Words #265

aloofly
Silver branches with buds that bide their time.

dereliction
The plum-colored house overlooks an abandoned lot. Papers, cigarette stubs, and glass have piled up on the front steps. Among the weeds along the base of the house - the blur of rodents bolting for cover. The French doors are open by a hair.

errantry
I need to be careful, when helping her, to consider my motives and make sure I'm not playing the part of knight errant.

jack-in-the-box
Suddenly the window pops open, and he thrusts half his body out and waves and whistles.

tedium
The statue stares at copper-colored pavement, a bicycle rack, a man and woman arguing about a mutual friend.

utopian
He dreams of living on a farm. He doesn't know anything about farm life, but he wants to live on one. The city makes him feel like less of a person; he imagines that on a farm, he'll feel like he's made of flesh and not frayed wires. He'll be surrounded by earth and growing plants. He'll rise at dawn and commit himself to bed at dusk. This is his dream of farm life.

venous
The dry vines on the building look like veins on the back of a hand.