Albeit

It was years ago,
albeit
(yucky frog word!)
could have been yesterday
your peer edit
in the margins
of his Joseph Conrad
paper
made me laugh
out loud
but I don’t think
I’ve used the word
ever
in anything
til now.
And frankly,
nobody uses it much
these days.
Or then.
Come to think of it.
I’m recycling memories
kinda like
our recycled
writing prompts
circling back
to days we
tried on words
to see
how
they
landed
and usually found
our attempts
at cleverness
mostly
made us
croak-
albeit, in
the end, I think
your observation
prodded me
off
my own lily pad,
into ever-clearer
waters.