L Milton Hankins Poet Quatrain

Unnecessary Words

Help me! I am addicted to unnecessary words
In everyday speaking I am hopelessly loquacious
And worse, in my poetry, so much for the birds,
Help me! I am addicted to unnecessary words!

Too many adjectives and unnecessary adverbs
Like “very” and “really” adding nothing of merit
And thoughts burdened with repetitive phrases,
Too many adjectives and unnecessary adverbs!

I turned on grammar assistance only to discover
The program needs to work overtime to fix me,
Like “needs to work” instead of simply “works”
I turned on grammar assistance only to discover,

I do not write nearly so well as I thought I did
Employing lots of words to express my meaning,
Overworking words that appear over and over
I do not write nearly so well as I thought I did!

Written December 6, 2022

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I Am Anaya December 8, 2022 at 10:52 AM Mark Twain on editing--When in doubt, cross it out! Were you channeling Mark? L Milton Hankins December 8, 2022 at 11:19 AM Perhaps! No, actually, I am becoming more aware of how wordy I am. And, I am trying to improve.

Maurice Rigoler December 7, 2022 at 3:11 AM That's when judicious editing comes to the rescue, painful as it often is. I try to write lean sentences. / Maurice

Caren Krutsinger December 6, 2022 at 11:01 PM "I turned on grammar assistance only to discover The program needs to work overtime to fix me," - hahahahahahahahahahahaaha This is exactly what I find too! I love this poem! L Milton Hankins December 8, 2022 at 11:21 AM Thank you, Caren. I'm using "grammar assistance" as a learning tool. And I, too, am driving it crazy!

John Lawless December 6, 2022 at 2:43 PM well, I don't know, perhaps, maybe, but then again...y'know...blame it on the dictionary and thesaurus, Randall those overly long and wordy sentences we had to diagram in 3rd grade, or Shakespeare L Milton Hankins December 6, 2022 at 6:52 PM Well, it's obvious, John, that you know what I'm talking about.

Marco Chies December 6, 2022 at 1:04 PM I thought I was the king of unnecessary words!!! Thanks for knocking me off the throne! L Milton Hankins December 6, 2022 at 1:39 PM Well, maybe we are twins in spirit!

Jim Slaughter December 6, 2022 at 11:43 AM This would be really hilarious, L M...if it weren't so true for so many of us. Something I vowed not to do in my "A Poet's Pledge"...write verse that is "overripe with verbiage...". I'm still working on it. L Milton Hankins December 6, 2022 at 12:25 PM I keep working on it after sixty years, Jim. We have certain words we apparently like to repeat, and so, we repeat them to the point of nausea!

Becky Forbes December 6, 2022 at 10:19 AM Cute! Seems forming unnecessary words into meaning to meet a syllable measure is part of the fun. Like pottery - only making word vases. L Milton Hankins December 6, 2022 at 10:42 AM Thanks, Becky, for your thoughtful comment.