Dash

Freeverse

How unlike a cat is this slender dash of ink upon the page, this pinch of print, this little line of punctuation, adding its mere millimetres of meaning, black against white, significant in its separation of segments of the sentence, imbuing words around it with a dab of consequence or moment. How like a printed dash is my black cat, stretched and stark against the sun-white concrete of the distant yard baking below, separating nothing but atoms of air, elongated, luxuriating, significant only in herself - a piece of furry punctuation that tells us solely that it is, and needs no function to perform. By itself, it is of itself, answerable to no one and to nothing - except the rain, which has just arrived, suddenly, in slapping, ponderous lumps, to soak the stone page and darken it, and drive her dash to drier quarters.

(Aug 2022)

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I want to be that black cat...
punctuation changes meaning...meaning is often what we didn't intend...
if only we could write ourselves correctly...life might be a smoother read.
j.

[Chris Shaw]

I am a cat lover. I like how you compare the movement of your cat to the pen on the page. Cats have a mind of their own. Selfish and stubborn. Won't move an inch until they are ready. I have more success with my writing. Enjoyed this write Andrew.

Chris