braying
He bullies away the gaps in his knowledge, filling them with loudness.
dispensing
The driver reacts to the near-collision by shouting at everyone else.
follicular
Wind that could tear the hair from your scalp.
jitters
When asking for feedback on her poems, she doesn't expect a blast of criticism, but braces herself just in case. It's an act of vulnerability.
lakeside
The branch has landed in a silken reflection of trees and clouds.
perch
The tree has a bare trunk and a tangled mass of branches at the top, like a nest for a giant bird.
portraiture
I pose badly, she says. It's in the way I hold my chin, look past her shoulder, keep my lips pursed so I won't laugh. But it doesn't matter, because the end result is the same: two sets of ellipses for eyes and glasses, a beaming crescent mouth, and a nose that looks like a raven in flight. I cherish it.
Showing posts with label willful ignorance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label willful ignorance. Show all posts
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Week in Seven Words #264
blanching
The fluorescent lights wash the life out of her face. She stares at me with smudged eyes.
channeled
It occurs to me that I'm only really learning at this point in life what to do with anger. Before, my conscious attitude towards it was, "Don't have it" and "Feel guilty about having it." I hadn't really thought of it as a healthy emotion, although - when confronted, understood and directed in mature ways - it definitely can be. Denying it is self-destructive.
erudition
Books with gilt-edged pages bursting out of mahogany shelves.
mean-spirited
It's not ignorance that bothers me so much as people acting triumphant about what they don't know. They're proud to not make an effort to learn or think about something, even while sharing their opinion or making decisions about it. They smirk at my frustration, like they've beaten me at a game I never agreed to play. At this point, I try not to engage with them, or I don't show much of an emotional response when I do. Easier to do when there's no personal connection between us; but also manageable when there is, though that involves giving up on a part of the relationship.
regressing
When someone tries to take their problems out on me, one thing I do is picture them the way they looked as young children. This makes their adult-sized tantrum less stressful. Though they want me to parent them and deal with their problems for them, I don't want to be a stand-in for their mother.
sweetened
Pink stickers, Hershey's kisses - little things that brighten a run-of-the-mill evening of homework and TV.
undeterred
He stares at the orange, pink and white floral sofa. Then shrugs and arranges himself elegantly on it.
The fluorescent lights wash the life out of her face. She stares at me with smudged eyes.
channeled
It occurs to me that I'm only really learning at this point in life what to do with anger. Before, my conscious attitude towards it was, "Don't have it" and "Feel guilty about having it." I hadn't really thought of it as a healthy emotion, although - when confronted, understood and directed in mature ways - it definitely can be. Denying it is self-destructive.
erudition
Books with gilt-edged pages bursting out of mahogany shelves.
mean-spirited
It's not ignorance that bothers me so much as people acting triumphant about what they don't know. They're proud to not make an effort to learn or think about something, even while sharing their opinion or making decisions about it. They smirk at my frustration, like they've beaten me at a game I never agreed to play. At this point, I try not to engage with them, or I don't show much of an emotional response when I do. Easier to do when there's no personal connection between us; but also manageable when there is, though that involves giving up on a part of the relationship.
regressing
When someone tries to take their problems out on me, one thing I do is picture them the way they looked as young children. This makes their adult-sized tantrum less stressful. Though they want me to parent them and deal with their problems for them, I don't want to be a stand-in for their mother.
sweetened
Pink stickers, Hershey's kisses - little things that brighten a run-of-the-mill evening of homework and TV.
undeterred
He stares at the orange, pink and white floral sofa. Then shrugs and arranges himself elegantly on it.
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