the past is an answer not worth pursuing, Nothing gets done except by the doing

gormless

My college boyfriend wasn't actually gormless, just drunk and woozy from too much rugby a lot of the time.

bardolater

One of my college friends is a very serious bardolater, particularly since the local festival began.

xeric

Far from the xeric sort, my friend Farmer E can always be found with a beverage nearby.

perfidious

I sometimes avoid getting to know people because others like them, in the past, have proven perfidious.

Laodicean

Please don't get the impression that I'm Laodicean--I just really prefer to keep my religion and politics to myself.

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Today is a trumpet to set the hounds baying.
The past is a fox the hunters are flaying.
Nothing unspoken goes without saying.
Love’s a casino where lovers risk playing.
The future’s a marker our hearts are prepaying.

The future’s a promise there’s no guaranteeing.
Today is a fire the field mice are fleeing.
Love is a marriage of feeling and being.
The past is a mirror for wishful sightseeing.
Nothing goes missing without absenteeing.

Nothing gets cloven except by dividing.
The future is chosen by atoms colliding.
The past’s an elision forever eliding.
Today is a fog bank in which I am hiding.
Love is a burn forever debriding.

Love’s an ascent forever plateauing.
Nothing is granted except by bestowing.
Today is an anthem the cuckoos are crowing.
The future’s a convolute river onflowing.
The past is a lawn the neighbor is mowing.

The past is an answer not worth pursuing,
Nothing gets done except by the doing.
The future’s a climax forever ensuing.
Love is only won by wooing.
Today is a truce between reaping and rueing.

[Campbell McGrath, 'Pentatina for Five Vowels', from Poetry, October 2012]