Bronx Masquerade: List 3

by Nikki Grimes
Each week, students in a high school English class step up to the mic to share original poems.

This list covers pages 113–167 in the 2002 Speak edition.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3
30 words 1482 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. identity
    the characteristics by which a thing or person is known
    Sheila may have identity problems, but I don’t.
  2. miniature
    being on a very small scale
    If you come to my house, there’s hardly anywhere to sit in my bedroom, or to step, for that matter, because the whole place is cluttered with hand-painted miniature cardboard sets I designed for imaginary plays.
  3. opportunity
    a possibility from a favorable combination of circumstances
    I’ll work on real ones as soon as I get to college, because I figure there’ll be plenty of opportunities to sharpen my skills working on college productions, especially down at NYU, where I plan to go.
  4. commute
    travel back and forth regularly, as between work and home
    As for him, he’ll keep his job in publishing and just commute.
  5. concentrate
    direct one's attention on something
    These days, though, I try to concentrate on keeping my grades up so I can get into NYU when the time comes, because one thing I know for sure is that my dream is in my heart.
  6. assembly
    a group of persons gathered together for a common purpose
    It’s not an assembly exactly, but Mr. Ward is having us meet together in the multipurpose room for the special presentation.
  7. effervesce
    become bubbly or frothy or foaming
    It popped up
    at the most
    inconvenient times,
    effervesced
    in all my rhymes.
  8. dissuade
    turn away from by persuasion
    You share your dream
    and right away
    people laugh,
    try to dissuade you,
    do what they can to
    plant a seed of doubt.
  9. earn
    acquire or deserve by one's efforts or actions
    Finish what you start. That’s my mother’s favorite saying, and she’s earned a right to it.
  10. sly
    marked by skill in deception
    Do my thoughts trade places
    like letters, on the sly?
  11. dyslexia
    impaired ability to learn to read
    "Dyslexia is a minor disturbance,
    nothing major once you learn
    your way around it," says the doc
    as if he's a radio jock
    announcing a fender-bender.
  12. cipher
    a message written in a secret code
    Yesterday me, Wesley, and Sterling got up to do a cipher for Open Mike Friday and here come Steve, jumping up to join us.
  13. menacing
    threatening evil or danger
    News at Five has got you thinking I was born to steal.
    Blacks are menacing, they say, as if their talk's for real.
  14. apologize
    defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for
    I will not apologize because my eyes are blue.
    I am cool with being me just like you’re cool with you.
  15. ethnic
    distinctive of the ways of living of a group of people
    Everybody around me is dark and ethnic.
  16. scatter
    strew or distribute over an area
    God must love puzzles
    the way he scatters our pieces
    across the table of the world.
  17. nudge
    push against gently
    So I nudge through the crowd,
    scrape my shins,
    feel the crush of bone,
    moan a little,
    then cry loud enough
    for anyone to hear.
  18. decent
    sufficient for the purpose
    Mr. Ward says if I keep pulling up all my other grades the way I’ve pulled up my grade in English, I should be able to get into a decent college when I graduate.
  19. pediatrician
    a medical specialist in the care of children
    I know I want to do something with kids, though. Maybe become a kindergarten teacher, or a pediatrician.
  20. envy
    feel desirous of another's advantages
    “I envy you, Lupe,” she told me last night.
  21. transfusion
    the introduction of blood or plasma into a vein or artery
    I was planning to give him the drawing for his birthday, but after seeing those brochures, he looked like he needed a transfusion, so why wait? Maybe a drawing of his hero will make him feel better.
  22. motto
    a favorite saying of a sect or political group
    Do something about it or shut up is her motto.
  23. leer
    look suggestively or obliquely
    Then there are those oily, leering, dirty old men on my block who drool or wink at me when I pass by
  24. reputation
    the general estimation that the public has for a person
    It’s amazing how easy it is to get a bad reputation.
  25. shard
    a broken piece of a brittle artifact
    Lucky for me the shard had a dull edge that left a jigsaw of scratches on me, but not a whole lot of blood.
  26. hypodermic
    relating to or located below the epidermis
    Dear Mom,
    You with the hypodermic needle in your arm,
    I never said good-bye, or joined your funeral procession
    because I was too angry at the time.
  27. procession
    the action of a group moving ahead in regular formation
    Dear Mom,
    You with the hypodermic needle in your arm,
    I never said good-bye, or joined your funeral procession
    because I was too angry at the time.
  28. anthology
    a collection of selected literary passages
    Porscha was about to freak, along with everybody else, ’til Mr. Ward surprised us with a class anthology.
  29. adjust
    place in a line or arrange so as to be parallel or straight
    “I’m getting there,” I said, taking a second to adjust the microphone.
  30. shun
    avoid and stay away from deliberately
    Asians shun me because my blood is not "pure.”
Created on Mon Oct 13 19:45:35 EDT 2014 (updated Mon Mar 11 16:56:59 EDT 2019)

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