Thursday, February 24, 2011

On Puncutuation, and Other Civilities

"On Punctuation" by Elizabeth Austen

not for me the dogma of the period
preaching order and a sure conclusion
and no not for me the prissy
formality or tight-lipped fence
of the colon and as for the semi-
colon call it what it is
a period slumming
with the commas
a poser at the bar
feigning liberation with one hand
tightening the leash with the other
oh give me the headlong run-on
fragment dangling its feet
over the edge give me the sly
comma with its come-hither
wave teasing all the characters
on either side give me ellipses
not just a gang of periods
a trail of possibilities
or give me the sweet interrupting dash
the running leaping joining dash all the voices
gleeing out over one another
oh if I must
punctuate
give me the YIPPEE
of the exclamation point
give me give me the curling
cupping curve mounting the period
with voluptuous uncertainty

4 comments:

  1. Julie, you have outdone yourself...this is a fantastic poem to post! Such good taste, my dear. And thank you for the birthday card, it was such a happy surprise...I got sooo exciting reading the Moore quote, it took me back to my Dr. Smith class :)

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  2. ah! love it! my personal favorite punctuation mark is the semicolon... but I'll never think of it the same way again, now that I've seen it called "a period slumming / with the commas / a poser at the bar / feigning liberation with one hand / tightening the leash with the other" hahaha

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  3. I've translated Elizabeth's poem to Spanish, it sounds great! - A challenge I must say.

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