Entanglements

15th November 2021: biaswise, adv. Obliquely, diagonally; in a slanting direction or position.

16th November 2021: pantaloonery, n. Clowning or foolery, esp. by a Pantaloon in a pantomime or harlequinade; comic entertainment.

17th November 2021: greymail, n. A mild form of blackmail without demands for money; exercise of power over a person through possession of compromising information.

18th November 2021: microcinematography, n. Motion-picture filming of subjects viewed under the microscope.

19th November 2021: wildland, n. Land in a natural or uncultivated state (also in plural in same sense). Also: a region or tract of such land.

20th November 2021: slowcoach, n. (A name for) a person who acts, works, or moves slowly; a slow, idle, or indolent person. Now chiefly British.

21st November 2021: pseudepigraphy, n. False ascription of authorship.

Torrential rain needles slices biaswise the freezing air. The streets empty of people rushing to escape the weather in any shop or covered alley they can find, bodies deformed into hunched shapes, pulling coats over heads with one arm and clasping shopping bags with others, colliding and slipping all over the place in riotous pantaloonery. Now safely in the warmth of commerce they find themselves under the thumb of greymail, pressured to pay for their comfort by buying anything, anything at all, to justify their shelter. And what of those who can’t pay? There’s plenty of room inside, and yet some will never be welcome. The less fortunate, there but for the grace of… , are ignored, eyes averted, indepth studies of the microcinematography of the wildland of grime beneath a fingernail, feet hurrying by, always hurrying. But stop, here, slow down to embrace the rain. Soak it in slowcoach. Feel the slick stone of the edifice. Sign your name on the water-beaded shopwindow, beneath the pseudepigraphy of the neon sign that blinks “Welcome”.