WORDS SOME OF US RARELY USE

In these twenty-six poems – one for each letter – words that are infrequently used by some of us serve as springboards, prompting introspection and reflection. Childhood and what comes after, as well as all the accompanying emotions, are sometimes circled, sometimes dissected, to understand and reconcile what came before. Returning from school to an empty house, losing a high school friend, the test with unknown answers, and the feelings that come with those memories – these and more are examined with the aid of words like graupel, lacuna, fantod, and somaticize. These uncommon words do what words commonly do: they fix.