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somethingdarkerAcrobatic:
The acrobat's taffy of satin - David Tomas Martinez "Calaveras Section 2"
The acrobat I dreamt of becoming - Emma E. Murray "Drowning Machine"
Strange acrobats to catch them - Iris Tree "Nerves"
Angler/Angling:
Angling with a baited hook - Nicholas Breton "The Happy Countryman"
Followed the angler's winding path - Henry van Dyke "The Red Flower"
Athlete:
Life's fragile athlete - Charles Baudelaire "The Soul of Wine" transl. not credited
With the happy grace of athletes - Michael Lauchlan "Trumbull Ave., 1981"
Among those athletes fronting storms - George Meredith "To Colonel Charles (Dying General C.B.B.)"
Balance Beam:
The balance-beam of Fate was bent - Ralph Waldo Emerson "Uriel"
Baseball:
Playing baseball with the dead - Chris Dombrowski "A History of Barbed Wire"
Flaws stacked like baseball cards - Andrea Gibson "Boomerang Valentine"
Bicycle/Bike.
Bleachers:
Brachiosauruses by the bleachers - Haley Bossé "When the Time Comes to Split the Gym"
Bowling:
Bowling by chance in adjacent lanes - Idra Novey "Value City"
The dune bowling down meteors - Cynthia Zarin "Orbit"
Bridle.
Cartwheel:
And teaches the urchins to cartwheel - Edryd Bowmer "Skink Song" [Strange Horizons 14 April 2025]
Champion.
Climb.
Compete.
Contest.
Dance.
Dive/Dove.
Exercise.
Exert/Exertion.
Figure-Skating See: Skate.
Finish Line:
Arguing about the finish line of the space race - Libby Graham "Space Worm Poem" [Strange Horizons Fund Drive 2025]
Fishing.
Football:
And pile them high like football fiends - Jennie Earngey Hill "Nature's Game"
Football players firing glory-cannons downfield - Catherynne M. Valente "Mouse Koan"
Gallop.
Gridiron:
Achilles of the moleskins and the gridiron - Frank Horne "Letters Found Near a Suicide" [Caroling Dusk: An Anthology of Verse by Negro Poets, ed. by Countee Cullen, 1927]
Gymnastics:
a gymnast on a thin thread of the horizon - Valzhyna Mort "Belarusian I"
the gymnast of our future was leaping - Valzhyna Mort "Belarusian I"
Halfcourt:
A heave from the halfcourt moving like a meteor - Tomás Q. Morín "Bird"
Halter:
I am Destiny's halter! Unloose me not! - Stephen Vincent Benet "The Last Vision of Helen"
Then memory breaks its halter and stampedes - James W. Whilt "Springtime"
Handspring:
And some one flipped a handspring in my heart - Wallace Irwin "The Love Sonnets of a Car Conductor"
Harness.
Hike:
To hike on the narrow paths - J.M. Allen "The Narrow Paths"
Left him hiking along the barren shores of physics - Robert Frazier "A Feel for the Heavens"
Hike and hustle and invent curse words - Vincent Toro "¿Que Que La Femme?"
Hitch-hike on the tailpipe of a car - Duane Ackerson "Little Ghosts"
Hop:
Oriole hopping from branch to branch - Terry Blackhawk "Maumee, Maumee"
Hops and rages whilst the rabble stare - Reginald Heber "The Whippiad: A Satirical Poem" [Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, no.CCCXXXIII, v.LIV, July 1843]
Imps keeping time with skip and hop - William Bell Scott "The Witch's Ballad"
Invited into our hopping choir - John Yau "Charles Baudelaire and I Meet in the Oval Garden"
Hunt.
Joust:
The jousting favor of one who is in thrall to no one - Sharon Olds "Boxer Aria"
Juggle.
Jump.
Marathon.
Piton:
Pitons on my gloves and my boots - Robert Randolph Medcalf, Jr. "Ice Magic"
Race.
Reins.
Relay Race:
Useless for gift wrapping and relay races - Dean Young "I Said Yes but I Meant No" [Poetry Oct. 2003]
Ride/Rode.
Riding-Crop:
Raised his riding-crop in golden greeting - Li Po "The Encounter" transl. not credited [The Jade Flute, c.1960, Project Gutenberg]
Roller Derby:
What's next in the social roller derby? - Paul Cameron Brown "Dash Into Realism: Escape Pad from the Sixties"
Run/Ran.
Saddle.
Score.
Skate.
Skip.
Snorkel:
A snorkel breathing another dimension - C. A. Conrad "Frank"
Soccer:
Surrounds the soccer field of what if - Dean Young "I Am But a Traveller in this Land & Know Little of Its Ways"
Somersault.
Sport.
Sprint:
Sprints into his shadow - Cameron Awkward-Rich "The Little Girl Dreams of Dying"
In a frozen sprint of light - Andres Cerpa "Parkinson's Disease: Autumn"
One of time's swiftest sprinters - Lutpulla Mutellip "Answer to the Years" transl. by Aziz Isa Elkun
Steeple Chase:
A steeple chase marked by clocks - Dom "Seaside Sunrise: Happiness when it Comes"
Stirrup:
To press the stirrup in fearlessness and glee - William Cory "Amaturus"
Till the Princes of Earth bow low to kiss his stirrup - "The Gold-Finder" [Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, no.CCCCXXXIX, v.LXXI, May 1852]
This stirrup-cup of stars - Louis Untermeyer "The Wine of Night"
Strike Zone:
Watching the strike zone get smaller and smaller - Oliver de la Paz "When Benny Agbayani Became a Met"
Swim/Swam/Swum.
Swing.
Tap-Dance:
Tap-dancing up a crystal stair - Hailey Leithauser "The Old Woman Gets Drunk with the Moon"
Tennis:
The pocked metronome of tennis balls - Debra Allbery "Sidereal"
Tetherball:
Playing tetherball alone - Chris Dombrowski "May"
Throw.
Trapeze:
Trapeze wires below the cloud cover - Caitriona O'Reilly "The Airship Era"
Rocked like a trapeze of fire - Lola Ridge "Firehead part I: He 1: Midafternoon"
Trapezes that our passion frenzies - Iris Tree "Nerves"
Trek:
In the trek of the blind snow - Lola Ridge "Back Yards"
Trophy
Trot.
Tumble.
Twirl.
Umpire:
The umpires noting all with care to tell - Palmer Cox "The Brownies at Base-ball" [St. Nicholas v.XIII no.12, Oct. 1886]
Bedlam elected himself umpire - Sandy Florian "But This Is Ambiguous"
No umpire she betwixt the chimes and knell - Herman Melville "Clarel" [excerpt - Epilogue]
Walk.
Walking Stick:
A weed stalk is the devil's walking stick - Gary Copeland Lilley "Unmarked Grave"
A walking stick of silk - Maggie Nelson "For Lily on Her 25th Birthday"
Whirl.
Wrestle.
Navigation Links:
Go to author indices.
Go to word indices.
Go to category indices.
The acrobat's taffy of satin - David Tomas Martinez "Calaveras Section 2"
The acrobat I dreamt of becoming - Emma E. Murray "Drowning Machine"
Strange acrobats to catch them - Iris Tree "Nerves"
Angler/Angling:
Angling with a baited hook - Nicholas Breton "The Happy Countryman"
Followed the angler's winding path - Henry van Dyke "The Red Flower"
Athlete:
Life's fragile athlete - Charles Baudelaire "The Soul of Wine" transl. not credited
With the happy grace of athletes - Michael Lauchlan "Trumbull Ave., 1981"
Among those athletes fronting storms - George Meredith "To Colonel Charles (Dying General C.B.B.)"
Balance Beam:
The balance-beam of Fate was bent - Ralph Waldo Emerson "Uriel"
Baseball:
Playing baseball with the dead - Chris Dombrowski "A History of Barbed Wire"
Flaws stacked like baseball cards - Andrea Gibson "Boomerang Valentine"
Bicycle/Bike.
Bleachers:
Brachiosauruses by the bleachers - Haley Bossé "When the Time Comes to Split the Gym"
Bowling:
Bowling by chance in adjacent lanes - Idra Novey "Value City"
The dune bowling down meteors - Cynthia Zarin "Orbit"
Bridle.
Cartwheel:
And teaches the urchins to cartwheel - Edryd Bowmer "Skink Song" [Strange Horizons 14 April 2025]
Champion.
Climb.
Compete.
Contest.
Dance.
Dive/Dove.
Exercise.
Exert/Exertion.
Figure-Skating See: Skate.
Finish Line:
Arguing about the finish line of the space race - Libby Graham "Space Worm Poem" [Strange Horizons Fund Drive 2025]
Fishing.
Football:
And pile them high like football fiends - Jennie Earngey Hill "Nature's Game"
Football players firing glory-cannons downfield - Catherynne M. Valente "Mouse Koan"
Gallop.
Gridiron:
Achilles of the moleskins and the gridiron - Frank Horne "Letters Found Near a Suicide" [Caroling Dusk: An Anthology of Verse by Negro Poets, ed. by Countee Cullen, 1927]
Gymnastics:
a gymnast on a thin thread of the horizon - Valzhyna Mort "Belarusian I"
the gymnast of our future was leaping - Valzhyna Mort "Belarusian I"
Halfcourt:
A heave from the halfcourt moving like a meteor - Tomás Q. Morín "Bird"
Halter:
I am Destiny's halter! Unloose me not! - Stephen Vincent Benet "The Last Vision of Helen"
Then memory breaks its halter and stampedes - James W. Whilt "Springtime"
Handspring:
And some one flipped a handspring in my heart - Wallace Irwin "The Love Sonnets of a Car Conductor"
Harness.
Hike:
To hike on the narrow paths - J.M. Allen "The Narrow Paths"
Left him hiking along the barren shores of physics - Robert Frazier "A Feel for the Heavens"
Hike and hustle and invent curse words - Vincent Toro "¿Que Que La Femme?"
Hitch-hike on the tailpipe of a car - Duane Ackerson "Little Ghosts"
Hop:
Oriole hopping from branch to branch - Terry Blackhawk "Maumee, Maumee"
Hops and rages whilst the rabble stare - Reginald Heber "The Whippiad: A Satirical Poem" [Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, no.CCCXXXIII, v.LIV, July 1843]
Imps keeping time with skip and hop - William Bell Scott "The Witch's Ballad"
Invited into our hopping choir - John Yau "Charles Baudelaire and I Meet in the Oval Garden"
Hunt.
Joust:
The jousting favor of one who is in thrall to no one - Sharon Olds "Boxer Aria"
Juggle.
Jump.
Marathon.
Piton:
Pitons on my gloves and my boots - Robert Randolph Medcalf, Jr. "Ice Magic"
Race.
Reins.
Relay Race:
Useless for gift wrapping and relay races - Dean Young "I Said Yes but I Meant No" [Poetry Oct. 2003]
Ride/Rode.
Riding-Crop:
Raised his riding-crop in golden greeting - Li Po "The Encounter" transl. not credited [The Jade Flute, c.1960, Project Gutenberg]
Roller Derby:
What's next in the social roller derby? - Paul Cameron Brown "Dash Into Realism: Escape Pad from the Sixties"
Run/Ran.
Saddle.
Score.
Skate.
Skip.
Snorkel:
A snorkel breathing another dimension - C. A. Conrad "Frank"
Soccer:
Surrounds the soccer field of what if - Dean Young "I Am But a Traveller in this Land & Know Little of Its Ways"
Somersault.
Sport.
Sprint:
Sprints into his shadow - Cameron Awkward-Rich "The Little Girl Dreams of Dying"
In a frozen sprint of light - Andres Cerpa "Parkinson's Disease: Autumn"
One of time's swiftest sprinters - Lutpulla Mutellip "Answer to the Years" transl. by Aziz Isa Elkun
Steeple Chase:
A steeple chase marked by clocks - Dom "Seaside Sunrise: Happiness when it Comes"
Stirrup:
To press the stirrup in fearlessness and glee - William Cory "Amaturus"
Till the Princes of Earth bow low to kiss his stirrup - "The Gold-Finder" [Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, no.CCCCXXXIX, v.LXXI, May 1852]
This stirrup-cup of stars - Louis Untermeyer "The Wine of Night"
Strike Zone:
Watching the strike zone get smaller and smaller - Oliver de la Paz "When Benny Agbayani Became a Met"
Swim/Swam/Swum.
Swing.
Tap-Dance:
Tap-dancing up a crystal stair - Hailey Leithauser "The Old Woman Gets Drunk with the Moon"
Tennis:
The pocked metronome of tennis balls - Debra Allbery "Sidereal"
Tetherball:
Playing tetherball alone - Chris Dombrowski "May"
Throw.
Trapeze:
Trapeze wires below the cloud cover - Caitriona O'Reilly "The Airship Era"
Rocked like a trapeze of fire - Lola Ridge "Firehead part I: He 1: Midafternoon"
Trapezes that our passion frenzies - Iris Tree "Nerves"
Trek:
In the trek of the blind snow - Lola Ridge "Back Yards"
Trophy
Trot.
Tumble.
Twirl.
Umpire:
The umpires noting all with care to tell - Palmer Cox "The Brownies at Base-ball" [St. Nicholas v.XIII no.12, Oct. 1886]
Bedlam elected himself umpire - Sandy Florian "But This Is Ambiguous"
No umpire she betwixt the chimes and knell - Herman Melville "Clarel" [excerpt - Epilogue]
Walk.
Walking Stick:
A weed stalk is the devil's walking stick - Gary Copeland Lilley "Unmarked Grave"
A walking stick of silk - Maggie Nelson "For Lily on Her 25th Birthday"
Whirl.
Wrestle.
Navigation Links:
Go to author indices.
Go to word indices.
Go to category indices.
