Punctuating You

Inspired by Rebecca McClanahan's Teaching A Nephew To Type, this one sort of built itself.

a colon, i heard in a poem once,

is a beginning:

something is yet to come

 

sometimes i think that's you

but that would be too narrow a focus

and that's not you at all

 

no, you are broad-

broad back, broad shoulders

 

broad viewpoint

 

the future, the past, the present, the

bigger picture

 

while i am focused

headily, heavily, consumingly

on the details

 

like did you know the dot above the i

is called a tittle?

and the little squiggly line

(the one impersonating an ocean wave),

a tilde

 

and how you remind me of the ae grapheme 

(or maybe just its cousin the ampersand?)

when you hold me in your sleep,

entwinning our arms and our legs

like you're afraid i'll try to escape;

 

and sometimes it's the 'at' i think of-

something ordinary made unique

by a little twisting and curling

and let's face it

you're pretty twisted;

 

and how you remind me of a period

all solid and dependable and so damn sure

on the outside

 

but you can't have the uncertainty of an elipsis

without the certainty of a triplet of periods, can you?

Because sometimes I think you're the hash.

 

(i told you you were twisted,

i'm not talking about drugs)

 

but the hash,

trying to put a definition on something-

give it a number and make it clear,

ending part of something

so something new can begin;

 

and if I told you this

you'd pull together our Italian lessons and tell me,

sei matto! you're crazy!

 

and you're right.

 

you don't even like punctuation.

Author's Note

All polite/relevant reviews are welcome - especially constructive critique, but also including grammar and spelling corrections. Please be aware, though, that this poem is intentionally written in lowercase. And thank you for reading/leaving a review!

Reviews

[Tex]

this is such a fun little piece. i just loved it. that last line is great, but I hesitate to point it out, as I don't want to detract from the rest of this piece.

it is amazing you came up with this concept. i never would have come up with it... imagine a poem about punctuation... very well done.

i saw something else you did, maybe a song in the contest? and just had to look at what else you had done this was the first piece i looked at. the title pulled me in.

thank you.

i just loved it. (all lower case in honor of your write)

[Penulis Kecil]

Thank you very much. :)

I think sometimes we can be very surprised where our imagination takes us - I know I was, when this was the result of reading something about a little boy learning to type. :)

[Cryingkate]

HA ! Maybe we can wheel and deal ? I have no clue of proper punctuation and thank God for spelling ck.

I'd gladly trade reading all your work if you read mine when you can and give me punctuation tips. However I might drive you insane, since I purposely twist words for my own meaning and love old world spelling ,besides making new words.

I bought a grammar book but it seems nearly useless. I mean it's too hard to correct what you don't know is wrong if I knew I wouldn't be doing it.

But anyhow I stumbled on your site and thought it looked fun and it is. This one anyways :-) I'll ck another. PS Hello :-)

[Penulis Kecil]

Hi. :)

I'd be happy to give you a hand with punctuation, grammar and any spelling errors that make it past spell check. A couple of things though -- I'm not perfect, I make lots of errors myself, I say things how I see them, and I can't guarantee that I'll comment on everything (especially when things in my offline life get busy or rough)... but as long as you're cool with all that, then you've got a deal. :) Just go ahead and friend me and I'll add you back.

[Tex]

Meant to also say... I wrote a song for some 10 year old triplet girls I know as well as a much younger daughter of friends. It is called "Jonathan - My True Love" you may want to take a look it is meant to be a fun, sing in the car on a trip, kind of thing. This piece reminded me of it. thanks again for your sparkling fun write.

[Penulis Kecil]

Thanks, I'll make sure I have a read in the next few days!

[gloomysundays]

I have absolutely fallen in love with this poem. It's beautifully written. It's concise. It's just ... breath-taking. You are so talented, so wonderful. This is amazing. I literally have nothing negative to say. Nothing to critique. You've left me with hearts in my eyes. Literally the best and most clever thing I have read since I first joined this website.

Cheers!
100/100

[Penulis Kecil]

Bless, thank you! :)