You know that tip‑of‑the‑tongue frustration – the words (sometimes, these lovely L‑words) hovering just out of reach somewhere in the maze that our brain is? That’s lethologica: when you know the word, but it stubbornly refuses to surface.

I’ve been there many times, only to remember the right word, phrase, or punchy sentence I should have said on the drive home… or in the shower… or alone at 2 a.m., when the whole universe feels like one big echo chamber.

Today’s words, I hope, will stay with you and come back on command; in instant‑recall mode, I mean.

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Language Please!

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt draws inspiration from the bridge between poetry and technological advances, like when Emily Dickinson wrote about trains, or this 1981 poem about the “incredible hair” of actors on television, or Becca Klaver’s “Manifesto of the Lyric Selfie” which draws inspiration from the contemporary drive to document everything in digital photographs. Today, our challenge is to write a poem that similarly bridges (whether smoothly or not) the seeming divide between poetry and technological advances.

Luminous Labyrinth Phool

I saw this poem called “Depth” just now;
the poet had used tech-art somehow,
to drape his words over a luminous box,
I guess, to lend them some extra mox-
ie and sass!

So I asked DALL·E to give me an image for mine—
He said, “Hello! Paywall here, dear—get in line!”
I wandered from tool to tool in a labyrinth spree,
thinking whatever is free is good enough for me;

and when I sent in my request,
it answered in dropdown menus instead:
You can pick one: “Hi! Studio Ghibli here!!”
“Pop Art?”;
“Classic is Your Style Maybe;”
“A Little Whimsy for You?”

I picked “All of the Above;”
for, why not choose the whole view?
and it gave me this!—
petals of pixels, glitchy and garish,
Ghibli eyes warped with Warhol grins.

Now I wonder which AI tool
will help me arrange my words into a phool
phool… fool… bloom—
“Who bloomed this fool from phool?” (duh, me!)

~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

Lovely L Words We Can Play With

• Lollygag: Dawdle, drift, stretch time luxuriously.
• Lickety-split: Blazing fast, time-collapsing speed.

Opposites in motion – which is where we live!

• Lethologica: which set off this post in motion
• Lethonomia: the inability to recall the right name; I suffer from this often!! And have had many long conversations with people without using their name once, because embarrassingly, I couldn’t recall their name. Sometimes, thankfully, they never use my name too, so maybe they were in the same boat as me.

L Books, Stories, and Literary Limelight

The L Books

• Limelight: Curtain Up on Poetry Comics! by Renée M. LaTulippe/illus. Chuck Gonzales (8-12). Theater poems burst alive in comic-strip acts. So much to love here!!
• Love, Sivvy by R. L. Toalson (14 years and up). This is a beautifully rendered portrait of Sylvia Plath, written for young readers.
• Listening to Trees: George Nakashima, Woodworker by Holly Thompson/illus. Toshiki Nakamura (7-10 years, and up). Nature’s wisdom shapes woodwork in lyrical nonfiction.
• Lilac and the Switchback by Cordelia Jensen (MG). For all trying to fit in while feeling left out.
• Little Bones by Sandy Bigna (2026, YA).

Life is Like That: Well, Mine

This week’s theme for Top Ten Tuesday is Book Titles That Describe Me/My Life. Every book on this list feels like a reflection, a reminder, or a possibility.

• The Book Thief. For the reader and collector in me who finds life in the margins and stories between the lines.
• The Book Whisperer. For the teacher I’m learning to become: one who inspires reading through joy, choice, and authenticity.
• Brown Girl Dreaming. My life often feels like it needs verse more than explanation, and this title sums me up in a way.
• The Courage to Teach.  I’ve spent the past year finding the courage to teach and still showing up.
• Educating Esmé. For the messy, hilarious, heart‑full days that make up a teacher’s first year – and every year.
• The Grudge Keeper. This one goes two ways: the part of me learning to release, forgive, and hold space gently, and the part of me who sometimes still feels like a grudge keeper.
• The Happiness of Pursuit.  I am currently finding the happiness of pursuit myself; an ongoing quest to make meaning and find joy in life.
• The Menopause Manifesto. For a body that’s changing the rules while I try to keep up.
• Midlife Bites. Oh well, I mentioned how midlife is so much fun, right? This is for that part of me looking for the humor and honesty that make midlife survivable – and even joyful.
• The Pivot Year. Because this is the year I decided to pivot into a new version of myself.
• Untamed. So much here resonates: the push to unlearn, and the permission to be more honestly myself.
• The Word Collector. Well, this is me!

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, what L-word caught your fancy recently, one that has come to the tip-of-your-tongue instantly? Drop it below – I need it for my lexicon!! Which of these books, words appealed to me? And if your life were written out in book titles, which ones would I find on your list?

I am linking up to A-Z, Blogchatter, UBC, NaPoWriMo.

And you can find all my A-Z posts (this year and previous years’ as well) here:

A to Z Challenge Posts