Blood Water Paint: Part V

by Joy McCullough
Growing up in Renaissance Italy, Artemisia becomes a talented painter — but her father gets credit for her work. This novel in verse tells the story of how Artemisia finds her voice, both as an artist and as a young woman.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V
30 words 29 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. shrivel
    decrease in size, range, or extent
    Barely hands now, though.
    Just bits of muscle, sinew, bone.
    If I should rip the bandage with my teeth,
    yank it from my flesh,
    what’s left would
    shrivel to nothing
    on the floor.
  2. sear
    become superficially burned (also figurative)
    There’s only one thing on my mind.
    It’s not the searing pain
    through every joint
    and muscle
    in my hands.
  3. anguish
    suffer great pains or distress
    It’s not my father’s
    anguished howl
    upon the sound
    of crunching bones.
  4. simmer
    boil slowly at low temperature
    The rage simmers.
    If I could,
    I’d grab a pot of turpentine
    to throw across the room.
  5. tendon
    a band of tissue connecting a muscle to its bony attachment
    Your hands are not your life.
    Your gift does not flow
    from these bones and tendons.
  6. vindicate
    clear of accusation, blame, or doubt with supporting proof
    Susanna is threatened, Susanna is accused, Susanna is vindicated.
  7. heinous
    extremely wicked or deeply criminal
    Finally a chosen one would pick a rock. Perhaps the victim of her heinous crime—those two elders so wronged when she would not succumb to their demands.
  8. succumb
    give in or consent reluctantly
    Finally a chosen one would pick a rock. Perhaps the victim of her heinous crime—those two elders so wronged when she would not succumb to their demands.
  9. encrust
    form a crust or a hard layer
    The cloth is gray
    and tattered at the edges,
    the first blood shed
    encrusted black.
  10. unravel
    disentangle
    And so, alone,
    I unravel bandages
    stuck with blood and grime.
  11. detritus
    the remains of something that has been destroyed or finished
    It works at first;
    the soiled layers
    pile on my lap.
    I might imagine
    this the monthly detritus
    of womanhood.
  12. demolish
    destroy completely
    Part of me thinks the moment
    her pure white hands
    touch my demolished ones
    she’ll float away,
    a feather on a breeze.
  13. insurmountable
    impossible to overcome
    To wash the filth away,
    the crusted blood and memory
    is insurmountable.
  14. solace
    comfort offered to one who is disappointed or miserable
    Being in the right is not always the solace you might expect.
  15. dirge
    a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person
    When finally exhaustion overtakes her, then Abra screams, flings out an arm, strikes Judith in the bed they share. Or else she weeps throughout the night, a lullaby drowned in a funeral dirge.
  16. incarcerate
    lock up or confine, in or as in a jail
    It isn’t Tino,
    incarcerated while we await
    the judge’s ruling.
  17. wince
    draw back, as with fear or pain
    Father winces at the sight
    of me breathing deeply,
    digging nails into my thighs
    to trick my brain.
  18. sufficient
    of a quantity that can fulfill a need or requirement
    If I should live a thousand lifetimes
    I would not have sufficient days
    to render my shock in its entirety.
  19. ravage
    cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
    Tino is free to ravage another girl
    so long as she’s outside Rome.
  20. indignation
    a feeling of righteous anger
    The righteous indignation rises,
    the need to skewer him with blame.
  21. labyrinthine
    resembling a maze in form or complexity
    The labyrinthine
    streets and alleys
    of our neighborhood
    reflect a perfect map of my life.
  22. harried
    troubled persistently, especially with petty annoyances
    I dart through narrow alleys,
    dodge the contents of a chamber pot
    that’s overturned above my head,
    the woman in a third-floor window
    too harried to notice an errant girl below
    or else she recognizes me and sends a message
    of my worth.
  23. errant
    moving in an uncontrolled, irregular, or unpredictable way
    I dart through narrow alleys,
    dodge the contents of a chamber pot
    that’s overturned above my head,
    the woman in a third-floor window
    too harried to notice an errant girl below
    or else she recognizes me and sends a message
    of my worth.
  24. convoluted
    highly complex or intricate
    But it only leads to another part
    of Rome, more twisting, convoluted
    paths and alleys,
    more of the same
    aimless purgatory.
  25. purgatory
    a temporary condition of torment or suffering
    But it only leads to another part
    of Rome, more twisting, convoluted
    paths and alleys,
    more of the same
    aimless purgatory.
  26. stagnant
    not circulating or flowing
    I do, however, wish
    the river would carry me away.
    Instead the stagnant Tiber’s stench
    assaults me with the truth:

    There is nowhere to go.
  27. thwarted
    disappointingly unsuccessful
    I shall live in my father’s house forever,
    my dreams of painting thwarted,
    feeling sorry for myself.
  28. paramour
    a lover, especially a secret or illicit one
    Giovanni Stiattesi,
    named in the trial
    as one of my paramours.
  29. hack
    a mediocre writer, especially one who writes for hire
    A penniless hack!
    How generous of you.
  30. ultimately
    as the end result of a succession or process
    It is ultimately your choice,
    but as I see it,
    you have no other.
Created on Tue Oct 09 11:03:30 EDT 2018 (updated Tue Oct 16 16:15:11 EDT 2018)

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