February 25, 2011

Punctuation [jana]

Exclamation Point is a cheat—forcing emotion into words without conviction.
Question Mark is a fake—most of the time, it’s not really a question anymore.

The Comma, filling pauses, filing drama,
promiscuous as dandelion seed, scattered
by whatever breeze it is that drives the inner voice.

Apostrophe—a shortcut for those who can’t afford to wait for the “no”.
But O! Ampersand—herald of connection.

4 comments:

  1. I, Love. This. & I. Wish. You. Would. Move. To. Lebanon! Please? Don't say no :)

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  2. Hahaha...thanks Vanessa! I would never say never.

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  3. I've said it before, but this is brilliant. :) Well done.

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  4. As a grammatical nerd, this poem causes many feelings to arise within me (part of me actually feels defensive against your critique of particular punctuation marks lol).

    But the idea is interesting--that punctuation breaks words up (perhaps in the name of "organization"), breaks connections up.

    There are some certain ironies to the poem though, too, which I like. For instance, the obvious necessity of punctuation to structure the poem, even to provide emphasis at points.

    Anyway, I love it. Good post!

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