A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe: Chorus: Zombie Apocalypse – Pops: Sal’s

by Mahogany L. Browne
In this collection of short stories and poetry, teens and adults in New York City reflect on the COVID-19 pandemic, expressing fear and grief while finding a way toward hope.

Here are links to our lists for the book:

Chorus: Wild Fire – Malachi: Quinies, an Epistolary Epilogue

Chorus: Zombie Apocalypse – Pops: Sal’s

Yusef: Six-by-Eight – Chorus: Hyacinth’s Farewell
15 words 26 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. stark
    devoid of any qualifications or disguise or adornment
    Nothing but 11,600 feet of concrete reflecting the sweet soda brand’s logo, stark against the night sky.
  2. remnant
    a small part remaining after the main part no longer exists
    Stage 3 of the quarantine and the only things outside of the house are remnants of a vibrant and bustling city.
  3. reminisce
    recall the past
    People no longer want to argue about who is the best forward, because the Brooklyn Nets are such a long-ago dream, it feels silly and childish to reminisce over something that may never come true again.
  4. sharecropper
    a tenant farmer who owes a portion of each harvest for rent
    It always begins with her father, a sharecropper, being threatened with a shotgun and noose by the local racist teens.
  5. jaunt
    a journey taken for pleasure
    Together in a safer place where memory keeping doesn’t feel like a blindfolded jaunt through an emotional land mine.
  6. mandatory
    required by rule
    Curfew became mandatory, and hashtag VaxxWars became the norm.
  7. pandemonium
    a state of extreme confusion and disorder
    We are still in a panini, a pandemonium, a pandemic—feel me?
  8. digress
    turn aside from the main subject of attention
    (That’s why I need a kitten, but I digress.)
  9. spunky
    showing courage
    I read somewhere the characteristics go like this:
    1.
    they are spunky

    2.
    they are independent &

    3.
    they are sassy.
  10. commemorate
    be or provide a memorial to a person or an event
    Alongside the 33 steps of the Prison Ship Martyrs (a monument built to commemorate almost twelve thousand people lost during the Revolutionary War), Summit on Top became the perfect place for a musical roll call.
  11. syncopation
    a musical rhythm accenting a normally weak beat
    It sounds like five, six, seven, eight
    Complex harmonies until syncopation slippery improvisations...
  12. improvisation
    a performance given without planning or preparation
    It sounds like five, six, seven, eight
    Complex harmonies until syncopation slippery improvisations...
  13. croon
    sing softly
    Watch me croon about the rent too high
  14. migrate
    move from one country or region to another and settle there
    He let everybody from the neighborhood sit for a cup of coffee and gave all the young ones like me a place to work when our families migrated from Yemen for the last time.
  15. fend
    try to manage without help
    She says she studying to make sure the people here ain’t forgotten because of the way they left us all here to fend for ourselves when the virus came—it’s wild, yo.
Created on Fri Sep 26 04:04:04 EDT 2025 (updated Tue Nov 11 20:04:38 EST 2025)

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