This is a nonsense poem. Seen one way it is nothing more than a list of words I love, brought together in semi-random sequence. Seen another way, it's an attempt to explore and appreciate the way words work, without recourse to neuroscience or linguistics or literary theory. 

I am not at all sure if the following can be considered “good” poetry, but people who love words—exploring their origins and meanings, discovering new words or using old words in new ways, as I believe the Hearns do—may enjoy the surprising emergences of meaning- and image-making that their imaginations sporadically perform in the reading of this piece. 

"The epistolarian"

 By Emily Ruppel

dedicated to Walt & Ginny Hearn

Cavalier. Alabaster. Rarefied.
Calculated cloven braggadocio –
legerdemain etiolated litany,
inestimable badinage soliloquy.
 
Nomenclature.
 
Incalculable carapace eviscerate,
dilapidated cloister fresco lunulate.
 
Quick, indefatigable winnowing
(penumbra warbled oriflamme avuncular);
cruel Vernacular!

Bricolage, emblazoned corybantic
qlimpsing archipelago –
Mercurial poetaster,
sostenudo.
 
Unscrupulous valence desiderata:
Baroque rialto cotillion, azaleas...
(purloined valpolicella =)

Ekphrastic salamander!
Guyabara!
Folderol!!

Emily Ruppel is a PhD student in communication at the University of Pittsburgh, with focus areas in rhetoric of science, bioethics, STS, feminist theory, and oral history.

Prior to her doctoral work, Emily studied poetry at Bellarmine University in Louisville (B.A. '08) and science writing at MIT (M.S. '11). She has spent several years working as a professional writer and editor for academic and popular outlets; among them, God & Nature magazine is a favorite project.