The #VerseLove prompt today challenged us to create a “definito,” a form invented by Heidi Mordhorst and described as “a free verse poem of 8-12 lines (aimed at readers 8-12 years old) that highlights wordplay as it demonstrates the meaning of a less common word, which always ends the poem.”

I have never heard of the word I tackled, but since I find etymology fascinating, it was worth digging into. I was exceedingly surprised to discover this word has increased in usage over time, as illustrated by this graph created from Google’s Ngram Viewer (thank you, Terry, for introducing me to this tool!)

What are you?

barely weighable, a flocci from the spring sheep
even less knowable, a whiff of an idea

closely followed by nauci
(nada, niks, nunda)
so forgotten it has no descendants

our minds are conditioned to nihili
Friedrich Nietzsche’s declaration
(or was it?)
that nothing has meaning

this morning, I found pili on my hairbrush
floating as nothing, and to no purpose

syllables chained together,
a mouthful at best

pushed along by –fication
along many tracks,
modification, vilification,
certification, gratification
to name just a few

combine these all
and you arrive at

floccinaucinihilipilification
a habit by some to
estimate things (people?)
as worthless