Donna Vorreyer’s poem Wallflowers first caught my attention by its title. Immediately I thought about the common usage of the term, which refers to someone who does not mingle much at social events and instead hugs the wall. They lack a presence. In fact, the poem references how the term is commonly used in the fourth stanza. Lines 11-12 say, “...Or do they wait patiently, shy shadows / at the high school dance…” However, I found the poem to be about another topic entirely. Our usage of words. Specifically, the words we neglect because we have never heard or seen them. I admit, modern society prefers simpler terms. People refuse to be bothered with the excruciating task of picking up a thesaurus or a dictionary. As a result, the words we
