Just a Synecdoche

One evening in the gloaming with the hour approaching late
I heard a sound, just ask my cat, he may corroborate.
I quickly went alfresco, thought I'd better take a look
A crowd of farmers gathered round to watch a donnybrook.

One farmer in pyjamas with a rubicund complexion,
Officious and unlaundered too, I thought, on close inspection,
Screamed words so execrable it made me hang my head
"Bugger off," I answered him, "You nasty slugabed"

He reddened more, demanding where I heard this sobriquet
“My bailiwick is language,” I began to say,
“I was just applying the accordant synecdoche;
Euphonious it was, especially if it gets your goat!”

The audience went bananas, with plaudit long and loud,
With swift volte-face I raised my hands to milk the cheering crowd
I took a bow then stood to watch my public genuflect.
My hubris was complete; I hadn’t known what to expect.

The ruddy man lunged forward to waylay me from behind
With fists clenched tight in anger and malfeasance on his mind
I heard “man on!” cried loudly by a sports aficionado
I spun around and held aloft my otiose red cardo!

My skill in diplomacy is something I misprise
So by some legerdemain I poked him in the eyes
He was implacable, impossible and vicious
And hence my disappearance was somewhat expeditious

My exile, I fear is from my own circumlocution
My life, although plenary has brought its retribution
My quandary as I hide out in a littoral bivouac
To change my life and limn a while or simply to head back

© Dave Carr


All of these words appeared as Word of the Day in October 2008 on the website dictionary.com The poem has at least one of these words on every line.



slugabed: one who stays in bed until a late hour.
donnybrook: a brawl or dispute.
littoral: on a coastal or shore region.
volte-face: an about-face.
rubicund: inclining to redness; ruddy.
officious: meddlesome.
implacable: incapable of being pacified.
circumlocution: the use of many words to express an idea that might be expressed by few.
aficionado: an enthusiastic admirer; a fan.
legerdemain: sleight of hand.
plaudit: enthusiastic approval.
euphonious: pleasing or sweet in sound.
sobriquet: a nickname.
otiose: ineffective; also, being at leisure; also, of no use.
waylay: to ambush or accost.
misprize (UK misprise): to despise; also, to undervalue.
expeditious: characterised by speed and efficiency.
alfresco: outdoors; outdoor.
bailiwick: a person's specific area of knowledge, authority, interest, skill, or work.
malfeasance: wrongdoing, misconduct, or misbehaviour.
synecdoche: figure of speech
plenary: full; complete.
limn: to draw or paint; also, to describe.
quandary: a state of difficulty or perplexity.
genuflect: to bend the knee, as in worship; also, to grovel.
corroborate: to strengthen or make more certain with other evidence.
execrable: detestable; extremely bad.
bivouac: a usually temporary encampment; also, to encamp.
hubris: overbearing pride or presumption.
gloaming: twilight; dusk.