Rambling About Punctuation
Someone asked me for some punctuation advice
I’m not an expert on requirements, as such,
I thought for them to ask me was rather nice
No two poets will agree on punctuating much.
In poetry, a comma is a pause in the action
A breather, so to speak, at the end of a line,
While a period means to stop for a reaction
Dashes mean more to come, which is fine.
Sometimes, no punctuation is necessary
I’m inclined to believe less is better than more
Poetry is different from prose; not to be contrary
I threw in a semi-colon, rarely used, for sure.
Overuse of exclamation points is a no-no vice
For they are appropriate only when exclaiming,
Sometimes they’re like yelling, which isn’t nice
While brackets [ ] or ( ) are used for explaining
Or, setting apart something you want to convey
Dashes are fine if used sparingly, like dot, dot, dot
A colon is used before a list you want to display
Honestly, I’d rather see less punctuation than a lot.
I hope this is helpful as you develop your style
I’d recommend a guide for general purposes,
But being too strict stifles creativity in a while
I say do your own thing instead of what imposes.
Written September 28, 2022
Copyright © L Milton Hankins | Year Posted 2022
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