Half-starved Poems
Punctuated poetry
with arbitrary line breaks
is like prose poured into
a little black dress
Every period that stops
where a line already has
is a button waiting to pop
Every comma that dangles
at the edge of empty space
is a thread that could lead
to unraveling
Every new line capitalized
in the middle of a sentence
is a zipper that won’t go up
With every start and stall
I become hungry for prose
I want a full page to read
without a stutter
~ Colleen Redman 6/08
July 21st, 2008 11:57 am
Oh, this piece is wonderful!
July 21st, 2008 1:12 pm
I keep getting a bounce back on comments. I will try the third time to tell you have wonderful I think the above poem is. The imagery is perfect and the tongue in check humor just what I needed on this hot day. I visited your area last week, but not close enough to say hello.
July 21st, 2008 1:14 pm
Testing…testing. Why can’t I get my praise comments to come through? Too much praise, perhaps?
July 21st, 2008 1:37 pm
Punctuation in poetry is my nemesis. I can’t describe how I struggle with it.
Terrific piece, Colleen – and so apt.
Kat
July 21st, 2008 1:58 pm
Good poem……….but I still feel there is no punctuation in poems.xox
July 21st, 2008 3:43 pm
I don’t know why the blog bouncer troll wouldn’t let you in, Tabor. If you use a url address it thinks your spam and usually won’t let you pass. But it seems that a couple made it through. Thanks for your feedback. I always love hearing from you.
My punctuation motto is “less is best” (or going bra-less in this case) but I’m in a minority.
July 21st, 2008 4:39 pm
You know I’m one of those who’s with you on this 🙂
July 22nd, 2008 10:46 am
I also really struggle with punctuation in poetry. I worked with a poet on my work a couple of years ago and she didn’t ever like periods in poetry. Part of it is the writer’s style I suppose. Thanks for the poem and giving me more time to think about punctuation.
July 22nd, 2008 3:04 pm
interesting what prompted this one ??sandy Mara makes me laugh
July 22nd, 2008 5:53 pm
Sandy, This is one of the three poems I wrote while at Virginia Beach in June. It was prompted by this: http://looseleafnotes.com/notes/2008/06/poetic_heretic.html
And this: http://looseleafnotes.com/notes/2007/10/a_poets_punctuation_proclamati.html
And also because a certain someone in my writers workshop who I play Scrabble with teases me because I don’t use punctuation in my poems. It’s been an ongoing theme.