Week in Seven Words #561

This covers the week of 10/18/20 - 10/24/20.

callow

The guitarist in the park has talent, but he seems to be only 13 or 14. The lyrics he sings would sound more convincing from someone who's at least a decade older.

cemented

The views at the new park are grand, but much of the space is wasted on concrete. The plants seem like an afterthought.

duckish

The pier is glowing, the ducks are dotting the water, and someone is using a bike horn that quacks.

pharmacy

The first time I show up to get my flu shot, no one is at the pharmacy, but the dude behind the counter glares at me and tells me they're booked solid. I don't believe him, but I decide to come back another time, because if he's the one administering the shot, my arm will probably be extra sore. I come back a few days later, no fuss; the shot's given by a quiet, efficient lady. 

plinth

We check if certain statues have been removed for their offensiveness. There's currently a mania for statue removal, as bigger problems rage on.

transformative

One of the stories from his youth features punched cards used for computer programming. These days, he keeps a smartphone at his belt.

voicing

I've come to know them by voice – the one with the mournful whimper, the one with a Caribbean accent, the one that craters his sentences with huge pauses.

Week in Seven Words #504

This covers the week of 9/15/19 - 9/21/19.

bears
She likes being read to while she's being fed. And she likes repeated readings. This time, it's the Berenstain Bears and a dinosaur bone that goes missing from a museum. After the nth such reading, I sit across from her and her dad with a book about a different bear: Corduroy. She switches chairs and settles in for another story that bears repetition.

compliment
She tells me that her favorite teacher, a humanities teacher, resembles me, which is why it's her favorite class.

delights
She repeats the name of her car's model, in bursts of delight.

fisherman
His interest in wrestling has diminished. Now he's into fishing and fishing videos.

peripherality
Not for the first time, I wonder if I were to get up, push my chair back in, and leave, would anyone present care.

perspective
It amuses me when a teenager tries to be shocking. Kid, you don't know how young you look to me.

sonorous
His voice is wrenching. At midnight, the lights flicker out, as if in response to the feelings he has evoked.

Week in Seven Words #498

astronomy
We find Jupiter with its banded surface, and a tiny, pale Saturn. Strangely, it's our moon that's foggiest and most unclear.

engorged
The meal before the fast is full of water-rich foods, like cucumbers, turnips, green beans, and watermelon.

fascination
When the fountain leaps to life, one boy steps back in startled wonder. The other climbs on the rim to peer closely at the shifting configurations of water.

generational
I prefer the reading voices of the older men, their raspy, trembling dignity. The younger men recite without feeling in a nasally intonation.

glades
In a park installed on old elevated rail tracks, there's an atmosphere of forest enchantment. Some people paddle their feet in a dark stream. Others are tucked on wooden lounge chairs screened by leaves. A handful of children listen to gentle music while painting tiles in the foggy light. We turn a corner and discover a dark, massive sculpture of a human head.

licked
They order marble cheese cake, strawberry shortcake, and a dense chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate pudding. Without even planning it, I grab one of the extra forks and shave off some of the frosting. It's almost too much in sweetness and richness, and it undermines the resolve I had formed to avoid chocolate for the week.

sunless
A thunderstorm brings dusk to mid-afternoon. Lightning dips into the river like a bony finger.

Week in Seven Words #488

audible
The dad's "SHHHH" is at first louder than the rising pitch of the child's tantrum.

breadth
The view opens up to brown hills and sunlight in visible tracks angling down from the clouds to the water.

browbeating
The young woman sitting behind us on the bus is being taken on a guilt trip by her mother. She fretfully pleads her case – that she isn't staying away from home too much, or using work and friends as excuses for avoiding home. She lists dates and times when she was in fact at home, but her case is crumbling, the judge unforgiving.

delighted
She has become ridiculous to her friends, largely because her voice turned into a blaring horn as her hearing deteriorated. But there's nothing ridiculous about the joy that transforms her face when her grandson visits unexpectedly.

disparaging
She glances at her daughter, who's asleep open-mouthed on the sofa, then looks away with pinched lips. "Look what's become of her," she murmurs, her disappointment genuine.

palate
The dog is sleek and golden, friendly and energetic. He also loves eating feces, any feces he can find. His own, the cat's, another dog's. He isn't picky.

smashed
The wine bottle rolls out of the fridge and shatters, and for an hour after we're still finding bits of it. Splinters of glass wink at us from unexpected places, such as a couch cushion. What brought the glass to the couch? The soles of someone's thick socks.