146. Olecranon, noun. The large protruding tip of the ulna (one of the two bones of the lower arm). The olecranon cups the humerus (the upper arm bone) and pivots against it as you raise and lower your forearm. It is what gives the part of your body you think of as your elbow its characteristic pointed shape. From Greek olene, “elbow,” + kranion, “head.”
If a tree has arms, then surely it has elbows, too. We gaze up at this one—centuries older than the two of us, and practically a forest in itself. I think about it shoving out, over the years, like a shy child who grows both confident and curt in age.
Hand on a hip, I walk on by.
