{"id":137991025,"date":"2026-04-12T21:50:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T02:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/?p=137991025"},"modified":"2026-04-13T16:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:19:15","slug":"many-definitions-day-12-of-national-poetry-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/many-definitions-day-12-of-national-poetry-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Many Definitions: Day 12 of National Poetry Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 12: National Poetry Month<\/h2>\n

One of today’s prompts is to write a “set” poem. There’s a lot of elbow room in the word “set.” Until 2007, “set” was the undisputed leader in the dictionary for the number of distinct senses listed: 430. “Run” overtook it in 2007, but this is not entirely fair – “run” got a nine-month long overhaul, whereas “set” was last revised in 1989.<\/p>\n

Down the rabbit hole. Words like set, run, get, and take accumulate unrelated meanings with ease. They do this by \u201chooking up\u201d with words from other domains to form new phrases and concepts \u2014 a kind of semantic promiscuity<\/a>. Johann-Mattis List uses that term in a more technical, cross-linguistic sense, but the metaphor fits words like set, run, get, and take as well. Technology, especially computing, has played a major role in the explosive growth of senses for run.<\/p>\n

Another prompt calls for “a memory of a beloved relative, and something they did that echoes through your thoughts today.” The two together triggered a visual – let’s see where it leads.<\/p>\n

One Special Cup<\/h2>\n

Conversation, coffee
\nafter dinner\u2014adults’ delight,
\nbut for the child, there’s
\nno respite from the dullness.
\nNo recourse but slipping,
\nsurreptitiously, below
\nthe laundered damask cloth.<\/p>\n

Pretend to be one of the dogs\u2014<\/em>
\nnavigate chair legs,\u00a0<\/em>
\nhuman feet\u2014escape.
\nDogs crave attention,
\ncare what children have to say.<\/em><\/p>\n

Until at five or six, or maybe seven,
\nGrandma reaches out
\nto still, mid-slide, the child,
\noffering a choice:
\none special cup
\nfrom the high shelf where
\nno two cups are quite alike.<\/p>\n

No table scraps, no milkbone\u2014
\ncall it training for a day when coffee,
\nendless cups and conversation, must
\nbe endured. No winding, now,
\nthrough grown-ups shuffling feet.<\/em><\/p>\n

O, temptation’s trap is set\u2014
\nA cup from which to sip
\na sweetened brew
\nof coffee, sugar cubes,
\nand cream. This
\nis how they get you
\nbit by bit.<\/p>\n

Other National Poetry Month Posts<\/h2>\n