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