For the Wretched Poet

I was feeling a trifle whimsical, and a trifle Seussian. Enjoy!

This is the eulogy of punctuation:

Its sad final love song, its elegy.

To the period, the comma, the sweet exclamation—

To all of the passion, what it means now to me.

 

This is the period.  Solid and stout.

It doesn't sing.  It doesn't shout.

It simply just sits there.  It's such a bore.

Too many periods make reading a chore.

 

This is exclamation!  Just one will do!

Unless you're in Mexico!  ¡Then use two!

Use them with caution, care, and grace!

Too many's like reading a slap in the face!

 

Commas are lazy, boring, and bland,

Your sentences run on much longer than planned,

You just cannot stop, your poetry's great,

But stop with the commas, was it something you ate,

 

And speaking of questions, how are you today?

Are you lost?  Are you weary?  Can you not find your way?

Why, you should ask questions, now, don't you agree?

But I have a question: do you have to ask me?

 

A dash is a border—a wall, moat or fence—

That you use for ideas far too tragic—immense—

To be held in a sentence—a line or a phrase—

It lets the eye linger—for days and for days—

 

A colon's a difficult concept to grasp:

Use it for lists, a mid-sentence break, or to clasp

The reader's attention; while its cousin, Semi

Removes tricky syllables from metered poetry.

 

I am a grammarian, born, bound, and bred:

A champion of poets and poetry—

How would poetic rocket-ships be led

Without good grammar's telemetry?

Reviews

[Blackbirdsong]

This is one of the best poems on site and a sonnet no less! To be honest I got so caught up your wonderful writing and imagery that forgot about the form until I end and that's after reading your description about it being a sonnet before I read the poem. You clearly have a mastery of this form. Your rhymes are perfect, not a heavy-handed or clumsy one in the bunch. Brilliant is the word for this, also true. Every word.

[rachel D]

this is a powerful piece. i think the first 2 lines are so very eloquent. errant is a great word. i love word.
i also enjoyed the screeeeeeching of the sons of Adam "we are alive".
i'm not even exactly sure what a sonnet is- shh, don't tell anybody, but it's very well-written.
-rachel-