National Poetry Month has ended, but I’m still reading a Poem-A-Day thanks to poets.org. Last week, the intriguing poem “Doha Thing Long Thought and Kind” by Alice Fulton appeared in my inbox. That piece, and the commentary that followed, sent me to my Merriam-Webster app for at least three words.
To find more interesting vocabulary, visit Kathy and her friends for Wondrous Words Wednesday at Bermuda Onion. Write your own post to share, and/or read everyone else’s.
First, let’s tackle the question that’s probably bothering you: what is a Doha? According to the poet, Alice Fulton, a Doha is a traditional Indian form featuring aphoristic couplets offering spiritual wisdom—sometimes in a dialogic, call and response pattern.
If you’re like me, you’re wondering – okay, and aphoristic means…?
Aphoristic is an adjective describing a concise statement of principle or wisdom. (e.g., My grandmother often made the aphoristic observation: “It’s a great life if you don’t weaken.”)
Finally, dialogic means, as you can probably guess, relating to dialogue.
Would you believe I haven’t even covered the Word Nerd Word yet? Whew, this Alice Fulton lady has amazing vocabulary. That’s because she’s a poet!
Fulton’s poem opens with:
A gift is a risk. Let roses be the prodrome.
Hello, Mr. Webster, here I come again.
Prodrome \’prō-drōm\ noun, from the Greek prodromos pro- (before) + dromos (act of running)
- A premonitory symptom of disease
So, in the poem, roses were a sign of something bad to come.
Word Nerd Workout
Can you use prodrome in a sentence? Here’s my try:
Only later did Lillian realize the unreturned phone calls were a prodrome for the demise of her marriage.
Follow up: My husband, a physician, used prodrome in casual conversation days after I published this post. We were talking about my son, who was suffering from the stomach bug. He’d felt nauseous for almost a day before he actually starting getting ill; my husband called that “a long prodrome”.
Thanks for getting nerdy with me.
Julia
My husband’s continued late nights and early mornings are always a prodrome to the virus that knocks him out cold at least twice a year.
Not sure…that’s a hard one to use, but now at least I’ll know what it means when I read it!
That was quite a word workout today. I am having trouble coming up with a sentence using prodrome. I have the same response to roses as the poem indicates. Roses were always a gift from my husband even when he was being unfaithful…..so Roses to me are a prodrome of lack of trust. TMI?
Not TMI – that’s an excellent example. I’m just sorry it’s from your life! Thanks for sharing.
Whew, you got quite the word workout with that poem! My headaches were a prodome to hypertension.
Good example, Kathy!
Two interesting words, and a familiar phrase.
So prodrome is kind of like ‘harbinger’? So “Her increased irritability at the keyboard was a prodrome for the delivery of the worst manuscript she’d ever written. I’m having some revision trouble lately, so that was cathartic 🙂
Yes, Jess, I think of it as a harbinger too. Good job, and I feel your pain on the revision trouble.
I don’t know if I’ve quite captured this word but here’s my attempt.
Delta, the dog, should’ve known that pestering was a prodrome to the cat. : )
I don’t know Mimi… prodrome is a hard one. Do you mean that the dog is pestering the cat, and that’s a warning of more trouble from Delta in the future? Thanks for “working out” with me.