“Artifact,” as Translated from Gluberhöff’s Lexicon

by Thomas Sorensen

Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈɑːtᵻfakt/, U.S. /ˈɑrdəˌfæk(t)/.¹Gluberhöff recommends a brassy timbre and a gravitas like a bowling ball falling into a pit of chalk dust.

A. n.
1. An object that has fallen out of step with stillness.

2. A vicinity or locale where time has finally run itself clear.

3. Any still figure at mid-late evening, when the long shadows make even crumbs appear arranged like furniture.

4. The larval husk from which utilities emerge.

5.
a. A toy retrieved, slightly faded, from just-melted snow.
b. The cigarette butts of the recently deceased.

6. A fact unhandled for so long that presence has begun to thicken on its surface like a layer of moss.

7. A dead tree, esp. a tamarack.

8. The only surface upon which dew may justly be accused of trespassing.

¹ Gluberhöff recommends a brassy timbre and a gravitas like a bowling ball falling into a pit of chalk dust.

Thomas Sorensen is currently enjoying a short interval between his Ph.D. and a postdoctoral fellowship, both in English. His poetry is forthcoming or has previously appeared in Arc, Variant Lit, Concision, Filling Station, and The Dalhousie Review, among other venues.