Poetry

Infinite Anthology

Les Murray

Gross motor — coordination as a whistle subject
audiation — daydreaming in tunes
papped — snapped by papparazzi
whipping side — right hand side of a convict or sheep
hepcat, hip (from Wolof hipi-kat, one who knows the score) — Spirit in which modernist art goes slumming
instant — (Australian) Nescafé
ranga — redhead

Creators of single words or phrases are by far the largest class of poets. Many ignore all other poetry.

Jail tats — totemic underskin writing done because illegal

lundy — a turned Ulster
rebuttal tapes — counter-propaganda filmed by warplanes

free traders — (19th & early 20th cent.) split bloomers worn under voluminous skirts
daylight — second placegetter when winner is very superior to field

window licker — a voyeur
fibro — resident of a poorer suburb

Single-word poets hope to be published and credited in the Great Book of Anon, the dictionary. The cleverest make their names serve this purpose: Maxim, Maxim’s, Churchillian.

Irishtown — a Soweto of old-time Catholic labour
bunny boiler — one who kills her offspring
dandruff acting — the stiffest kind of Thespian art
blackout — Aboriginal party or picnic, whites not invited

butternut — homespun cloth dyed with hickory juice
shart — a non-dry fart
Baptist Boilermaker — coffee and soda (an imagined Puritan cocktail)

 

Single-word poets recycle words in advance of need, or leave them exposed to the weather of real difference.

Wedge — cloth bunched in the groin; may cause Camel toe (q.v.)

wedge — to force the pace or direction
bushed — lost (Australian)
bushed — tired (American)
bushed — suffering camp fever (Canadian)
limo — limousin cattle
proud — castrated but still interested

Many quaint items are invented merely for show, but similar items may be the insignia of particular groups or classes.

Drummy — echoing, hollow-sounding (mining term)

rosebud — American Civil War wound
Shabos goy — Gentile who does small jobs for Orthodox Jews on Sabbath or other holy days
choke — to strap loose freight tightly together for transport

off book — (theatre) having one’s lines down pat
bugle driver — attachment on a drill to intensify its power in sinking screws
tipping elbow — (Aboriginal) sneaking glances at one’s watch