On the first day of the August Open Write at Ethical ELA, Gayle Sands invited participants to scroll this site, https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/surprising-uncommon-words, for choosing an uncommon word to pay with in crafting a poem.

The word that caught me was snickersnee.

I’ll just let the poem speak for itself…

The Snickersnee

Woe to the olden blades
rusty, dull, disobliging—fie!
Off with thee, useless utensils
—begone!
Behold the Snickersnee:

So fine a blade
German-made
slicing mine vegetables
as if they were but a dream
or merely air…
I forgetteth this
exceptional sharpness
during the washing-up
whereupon the Snickersnee
indiscriminately
snicketh a chunk 
o’ me.
(Just a thin slice o’ thumb.
A profusion o’ blood,
nevertheless.
Alas.)

Behold the snickersnee