First, disregard the word shimmer.
too rapidly it decays into simmer,
shunner, slimmer, suddenly slum
slam, slammer summer. It will not
stand, it dissolves upon reflection.

Beware the words wash, wave, lave, dash,
for they will not withstand the toss of one
into the other until all that is left is dander
and lather, as they ladder into each
other in discord with pitch and variance.

Forget scintillate—it sets the same trap
as iridescent and brilliantine. Discard
dappled, flashing, sinuous, prismatic,
though all susurrate, the pronunciation
will not sustain amplitude or frequency.

Ripples on a lake must be teased from
each word to present themselves not just
as they are—but who they are—to adequately
describe ripples each must be acknowledged
an individual—when we do so we make ripples

clear—each one says, “do not be discouraged.”