An Archive of Consonants
क/ka
cud n. partly digested food returned from the first stomach of ruminants to the mouth for further chewing.
words like cud, cud-like words must be ruminated
ख/kha
missing
ग/ga
gadlfy n. a fly that bites livestock, especially a horsefly, warble fly, or botfly.
a good gadfly returns to its prey
घ/gha
having gone astray
ङ/ŋa
no longer possessed or retained
च/cha
chinaberry n. a tall tree which bears fragrant lilac flowers and yellow berries, native to Asia and Australasia.
an emerald-bellied hummingbird gets drunk on the endocarp of a Chinaberry
छ/chha
falters
ज/ja
jetsam n. unwanted material or goods that have been thrown overboard from a ship and washed ashore, especially material that has been discarded to lighten the vessel.
a ship-like body expels aspiration like jetsam
झ/jha
floundering
ञ/ña
unable to find one’s way
ट/ta
temper v. act as a neutralizing or counterbalancing force to (something)
a chord is tempered with
ठ/tha
no longer belonging to
ड/da
disembodied v. to divest (a soul, spirit, etc.) of a body.
sound is disembodied
ढ/dha
not used to good purpose, as opportunities, time; wasted
ण/ṇa
distracted; distraught; desperate; hopeless
त/ṭa
no longer possible or open to
थ/ṭha
thaw v. (of a part of the body) become warm enough to stop feeling numb.
an ear thaws under duress
द/ḍa
the d. used with an adjective to refer to those people who are of the type described.
the phonemes, diachronically displaced
ध/ḍha
insensible to
न/na
naevus n. a birthmark or a mole on the skin, especially a birthmark in the form of a raised red patch.
a tongue-like naevus, disinfected, surgically removed
प/pa
purge v. rid (someone) of an unwanted feeling, memory, or condition.
one purges herself of pollutants
फ/pha
fulcrum n. a thing that plays a central or essential role in an activity, event, or situation.
if speech is the fulcrum of being, what happens when you are at loss
ब/ba
burr n. a prickly seed case or flower head that clings to clothing and animal fur.
meaning sticks to you like burr
भ/bha
lost
म/ma
murrain n. redwater fever or a similar infectious disease affecting cattle or other animals.
the exorcism is interrupted by a murrain-like plague
य/ya
yours possessive pronoun. used to refer to a thing or things belonging to or associated with the person or people that the speaker is addressing.
but in time, everything that was once mine will be yours
र/ra
ruminant n. an even-toed ungulate mammal that chews the cud regurgitated from its rumen. The ruminants comprise the cattle, sheep, antelopes, deer, giraffes, and their relatives.
unlike a ruminant, I do not have the stomachs for…
ल/la
liminal a. relates to the point (or threshold) beyond which a sensation becomes too faint to be experienced’
liminal limitations
व/wa
woo v. seek the favour, support, or custom of.
I have wooed this mind into being singular
श/sa
shame n. a person, action, or situation that brings a loss of respect or honour.
shame has died and so have the potted plants
ष/sa
ending in or attended with defeat
स/sa
supplant v. supersede and replace.
the acquired has supplanted the innate
ह/ha
hull n. The outer covering of a fruit or seed, especially the pod of peas and beans, or the husk of grain.
the remnants have been discarded, like hull
क्ष/chhya
no longer able to understand
त्र/tra
bewildered, as to place
ज्ञ/gya
unable to find one’s way; not knowing one’s whereabouts
* * *
Itisha Giri is a poet of Nepali and Indian origin based in Madrid, whose work has appeared in literary journals such as La.Lit, Of Nepalese Clay, and in The House of Snow: An Anthology of the Greatest Writing About Nepal. Giri was invited as a guest poet to the Mediterranean Poetry Festival in Mallorca, and her poems have been translated into Catalan and Galician. She is the editor of poetry anthology These Fine Lines: Poems of Restraint and Abandon, published by SAFU, and she currently works as an assistant editor of poetry for La.Lit; an international literary magazine published in Kathmandu.
