Your mind is in the gutter

Bringing down words from the linguistic attic

The pusillanimous fear of misstepping
When verbophobia addles your mind
Wishing to be safe in the penitralia of your thoughts
Without nodgecocks finding fault
If you are so inclined.

You may think these words belong
In the slut-hole,
That as a clatterfart,
You bring little value.
But like the vagitus 
Of a newborn,
You're learning
Which tittynopes to pursue.

There may be pershittie readers,
Who are difficult to please.
But even as a nestle-cock,
Playing hitty-titty with
New phrases,
In time you'll master them
With great ease.

You may not know of copula,
A bridge within a sentence.
But it tells us that 
This cockapert seems lackadaisy,
Depending on binaries.

So there's no need
To be in a kankedort,
Don’t bury yourself
In a dick-holl
For trying.
Without the rich language of old
The thallus is surely
Dying.

Dictionary (in order of poem)

• Pusillanimous: lacking courage

• Verbophobia: fear of words

• Penitralia: the innermost parts of a building; a hidden place

• Nodgecock: a fool

• Slut-hole: Victorian slang term for the trash can

• Clatterfart: a gossip; a blabbermouth

• Vagitus: a newborn baby’s first cry; the crying of a baby

• Tittynope: Scottish term for a small quantity of a tasty treat

• Pershittie: prim; overly meticulous

• Nestle-cock: the last-hatched chick of a brood; the weakling of a brood

• Hitty-titty: the game of peekaboo

• Copula: a linking verb, also called a copular verb; the most common is the verb “be” that connects the subject with a noun complement (eg, chocolate is sweet)

• Cockapert: used to describe someone who is cocky or overconfident

• Kankedort: a difficult situation; an awkward affair

• Dick-holl: a ditch

• Thallus: a blobby plant that lacks leaves, stems, and roots

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