Favor

Geof Huth, "burge" (13 April 2017)

Today, I had to answer questions for an interview for a work-related newsletter, and still I found a way to promote pwoermds:

What would people be surprised to learn about you? (not just in the professional arena…do you play banjo, study karate, make the best sushi ever…)

I consider myself the world’s expert in three different but very narrow areas: one-word poems, praecisio, and antidictionaries. I’ve certainly written more about these topics than anyone. One-word poems (which I call pwoermds) are usually invented words presented alone as a complete poem, and I’ll be speaking about this form of poetry in Aachen, Germany, this May. Praecisio is a figure of speech in which one makes one’s point by saying nothing, instead of saying something. Taking a moment of silence, for instance, is an example of praecision: honoring the memory of someone by thinking about the person instead of speaking, because one’s words could never be enough. Antidictionaries are works of literature in dictionary form that do not truly define words even though they appear to do so. The most famous of these is The Devil’s Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce. I donated my huge collection of dictionaries and antidictionaries, including dozens of editions of Bierce’s, to the University at Albany. I often say that anyone can be a world’s expert in something if they only choose narrowly enough.

pw(o'er)md