Who the hell is Interrobang?!

Writing assignment turned poem.

Who the hell is Interrobang?!

He’s the mutated love child of a question and an exclamation,

He’s the cry of a howler monkey whose banana has been stolen

He’s also the head tilt of a child who can’t ever get past ‘why?’

He’s smirking at the end when you grab your sister and scream:

“Where the hell is my lipstick?!”

Shh…

Let Ellipsis surround you

She’s the one with her hands always reacting

Arranged like the three little monkeys

To hear not the knotted voice of a screamer

To see not the eyes of the Tigers opening their jaws

Her soft voice lets the words fade to silence…

Not a sharp Slash or a running Dash or whispering Parenthesis

Just dear, devoiced Ellipsis…

Comma, who I ‘m sure you’ve met,

The exhausted overachiever who doesn’t know how to say no

Always being streeeeeeetched on the rack,

And doing tasks she was never meant to do,

She always gives high-schoolers charity and her time

Described as an introvert, always blinded in the lime-light

While Colon and her twin Semi wait jealous in the corners

Period has to hide her in his arms so she can finally breathe.

 

This is my family.

Those I spend every day with.

Those I speak with, who sing in harmony and dissonance

Those who are forgotten, who hug my fingertips

Or hide in the nib of my pen, pleased at the release

They’re my crazy uncles and baking grandmas

Teaching me how to pick importance, time and place,

And how to go out with a bang.