My grandmother
once a linguist
a professor
full of words
and definitions
and facts
sits under a tree
fingers gripping the plastic
lawnchair arms
eyes searching the garden
for the word
once known
now tumbling down into the
dark abyss
unseen

but then a smile
she's found it!
the word
it's a thingie
she says
a thingie

a basket of adjectives in her mind
a bouquet of nouns in her eyes
her lips now forming one word
thingie