Josh Wallaert

Two Poems

WEBSTER’S BODY
 from Noah Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language (1828)

Mouth, n.
The aperture in the head of an animal, between the lips, by which he utters his voice and receives food.

Lip, n.
The edge or border of the mouth. The lips are two fleshy or muscular parts, composing the exterior of the mouth in man and many other animals. In man, the lips, which may be opened or closed at pleasure, form the covering of the teeth, and are organs of speech essential to certain articulations.

Nose, n.
The prominent part of the face which is the organ of smell. The nose serves also to modulate the voice in speaking, and to discharge the tears which flow through the lachrymal ducts. Through this organ also the air usually passes in respiration, and it constitutes no small part of the beauty of the face.

Finger, n.
One of the extreme parts of the hand, a small member shooting to a point. The fingers have joints which peculiarly fit them to be the instruments of catching, seizing and holding.

Lights, n.
The lungs; the organs of breathing in animals. These organs in man we call lungs; in other animals, lights.



PHYSICIAN’S ADVICE
 from Noah Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language (1828)

Nightmar, n.
A sensation in sleep resembling the pressure of a weight on the breast or about the praecordia. It is usually the effect of indigestion or of a loaded stomach.

Itch, n.
A cutaneous disease of the human race, appearing in small watery pustules on the skin, accompanied with an uneasiness or irritation that inclines the patient to use friction.

Pain, n.
An uneasy sensation in animal bodies, of any degree from slight uneasiness to extreme distress or torture, proceeding from pressure, tension or spasm, separation of parts by violence, or any derangement of functions.

Ouch, n.
The blow given by a boar’s tusk.

 
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