Clap When You Land: List 4

by Elizabeth Acevedo
After their father dies in a plane crash, two sisters who never met must come to terms with each other's existence.

This list covers “Thirty-Five Days After” to “Sixty Days After”.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
30 words 104 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. herald
    praise vociferously
    He told me once, with me,
    he felt like he had to perform,

    become a character in a play,
    he had to prove he was good enough.

    That he had earned the right
    to marry the heralded general's only child.
  2. incessantly
    without interruption
    I stopped checking it incessantly.
  3. platitude
    a trite or obvious remark
    I want to offer her platitudes & murmurs
    that it will all be all right.
  4. dawdle
    take one's time; proceed slowly
    But the appointed time has passed,

    & I still dawdle in the kitchen,
    washing dishes & putting away the leftovers
    in recycled margarine containers.
  5. concourse
    a wide hallway in a building where people can walk
    We are standing still on the sidewalk,

    & the hustle & bustle of Grand Concourse,
    the people running in & out of shops, fade away;

    the heat sticks to our bodies, a second skin.
  6. bile
    a digestive juice secreted by the liver
    I swallow back the bile that rises in my mouth.
  7. compliance
    a disposition or tendency to yield to the will of others
    Perhaps she thinks she’s bought my compliance?
    Perhaps that’s what I implied.
    But I am annoyed to be treated like a servant girl.
  8. strew
    spread by scattering
    I know the remains are strewn around us.
  9. embalm
    preserve a dead body
    Papi was embalmed in sea salt,
    like an ancient insect caught in honey,

    unmoving, from a different time.
  10. waive
    do without or cease to hold or adhere to
    “You’re underage.
    Will you have a guardian with you?”

    I shake my head no. He shakes his head sadly. “If you were
    seventeen we could waive it. But as it is...”
  11. poultice
    a medical dressing spread on a cloth and applied to the skin
    I start the sancocho
    while Tía delivers a poultice
    to a viejita with arthritis.
  12. mortar
    a vessel in which substances can be ground with a pestle
    Mashed
    garlic sits in the mortar.
  13. berate
    censure severely or angrily
    I spend the entire ride in Don Mateo’s car
    berating myself for agreeing
    to this Yahaira’s crazy plan.
  14. reconcile
    bring into consonance or accord
    I feel like I am trying to reconcile two very
    different pictures. My heart wants to make them whole,
    but my brain knows my father will not walk through those doors;

    my brain does not know if my sister will.
  15. pensive
    deeply or seriously thoughtful
    & finally a beautiful girl, with tight curls:
    A morenita with a pink duffel in her hand
    looking pensive & determined.
  16. smattering
    a small number or amount
    & there was a moment when the wheels first touched down
    that my heart plummeted in my chest, but then we were slowing

    & a smattering of passengers erupted into applause.
  17. rile
    disturb, especially by minor irritations
    When we are riled up,
    the beach soothes us both, doesn’t it, Latita?
  18. careen
    move sideways or in an unsteady way
    But it also feels like my life is a careening motoconcho
    on a rain-slick road rushing rushing toward

    something bigger & madder.
  19. coddle
    treat with excessive indulgence
    The chickens we killed were for food & ceremonies,

    & I didn’t name or coddle even one of them.
  20. solace
    comfort offered to one who is disappointed or miserable
    What do I know about providing comfort?
    Of making myself a place of solace?
  21. intone
    recite musically; recite as a chant or a psalm
    at the grave site
    the casket is lowered

    the earth again
    welcoming
    a song home

    Mami heaves
    as if she will jump in

    the caoba trees
    bow low
    the wood gleams

    words intoned
  22. presumptuous
    going beyond what is appropriate, permitted, or courteous
    I wait. I know my tone
    is a presumptuous one
    she will berate me for.
  23. disclosure
    the act of making something evident
    & I don’t know
    who is more surprised,

    me at the future my
    father imagined without my knowing,
    or her, at the disclosure.
  24. emboss
    raise in a relief
    He runs his hand through my bag,
    pulling out the embossed gold of the passport,
    the stark white of the envelope

    that holds my entire future.
  25. tiff
    a petty quarrel
    I try to grab the passport & money,
    but he holds both high above his head
    like this is all a game, a middle-school tiff.
  26. uppity
    arrogant or self-important
    “Do not ever mention her,

    you uppity, ugly...”
  27. impetuous
    characterized by undue haste and lack of thought
    The girl is impetuous,
    but she wouldn’t walk the roads

    at this time of night;
    she would wait for the sun.
  28. complicity
    guilt as a confederate in a crime or offense
    “She loves on her best friend
    like a favorite doll. Treats her fragile-like.

    She wouldn’t wake her.
    She wouldn’t make her complicit.”
  29. buffet
    strike, beat repeatedly
    It’s as if she’s silenced the night, everything
    but the wind, & the wind has its own voice,
    & it has joined with ours. It buffets at the man’s hair
    & clothing.
  30. broach
    bring up a topic for discussion
    Having Nelson around the house would be helpful,
    & Tía loves little more than a baby to cradle,
    a family to feed.
    I will broach the idea with Tía tomorrow...
Created on Mon Jun 29 11:09:16 EDT 2020 (updated Fri Jul 10 17:08:28 EDT 2020)

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