WELL DEFINED
Vocabulary in Rhyme
by Michael Salinger and illustrated by Sam Henderson
Well Defined : Vocabulary in Rhyme
When prepping for the SATs, / it’s good to learn such words as these: / transient and aggregate, / dilatory and berate. Here, fifty-one “two-dollar” words / are amplified for student herds, / and Henderson’s amusing doodles / may help to fix them in kids’ noodles. In free verse by this “teaching artist” / the first line’s oftentimes the smartest. / (This verbose poet in his smithy / lost his verse describing pithy.) Erratic, florid, and capricious, / Salinger’s poems aim to teach us. / Too bad they lack the magic trick: / Mnemonically, they just don’t stick. (Nonfiction. 10 & up)