The Good Word

I love words. Sometimes when I'm reading a book, I jot down pleasing words in my journal. Not necessarily unfamiliar words, just words that strike a chord, like flagstones, chastened and tonsure. Hawthorne, Cooper and Melville texts are rich for word-mining. Lots of nautical terms, whaling lingo, the newly arcane. Many of the poems I write are inspired by a single word (e.g. portage; lightfast; fractality; caustic; rococo.