Best American Poetry 2008 Found Poem (Definitions) by Ming Holden

A canopy of state over a throne,
A duck or a lie,
A string of prayer beads.
A scar,
Bruised,
An error in a book.

From the tar of the beech tree,
Formerly used as an expectorant,
A bizarre decorative object.
With a love of luxury, or an islander,
An inhabitant
With a sense of shared spirituality.

With prickly stems, fragrant leaves,
Pink flowers and red hips,
A shoulder ornament.
Resin used in strong coatings,
Calamitous,
In which a tightened iron collar strangles the condemned.

Wandering scholars devoted to adventure and the good life,
Jugglers,
Marked by slaughter.
A powerful carbon-arc lamp,
One who renders a text into a different form,
A dump for domestic waste.

Fastened securely,
A papal representative,
Apparent displacement due to two sight lines.
Pertaining to fat,
Resembling a feather,
Marked by unwillingness.

A container for the physical remains of saints
To send back to a lower court,
A metamorphic rock.
Named after rich pigment in a fish's ink sac,
A curved writing utensil,
A form of verbal noun.

Ripening and discharging puss
To comply with the time or occasion,
A three-layered net.
The act of anointing
A garment covering neck and chin,
Appearing in the evening.

     -- Ming Holden

Comments

[James LaGrande]

It's poetry, by definition.

[Ayur]

Good! Hug!