Liberty Bell, cracked and muted after the war
Apostrophe after every catastrophe under par
Homerun in the Long March of Second War
Coins on cairns of foes and heroes in jar
An exclamation point in war under par.
Exclamation marks rile up and excite Mrs. Ex.
She teaches seventh grade English and always suspects….
We are overdoing it when we use even on.
So I throw them in my paragraphs to have some fun.
She says they should be rare and exclusive to execute.
Her ideas are not mine, they simply do not compute.
Loving these fine exclamation marks, I make with my pen,
But she grades my papers, so a huge pickle I am in.
She says, “Please use them sparingly! Better yet, not at all.”
But what if I see a gigantic man-eating woman sixty feet tall?
Or a monster devouring a grade school and a shopping mall?
Mrs. Ex stares at me, in a kind of weird wordless stall.
What if you only used this mark once a day? She suggests.
Her suggestion annoys me, my pa and all of our guests.
Of course, new exclamation marks are all over the things that I write.
Infuriating out of Mrs. Ex, who ran away from her job last Tuesday night.
It is a week before Christmas,
And I recline in my desk blue chair;
Bursting with words
That matter to you,
And hoping that that’s very fair.
For I know that you have your moods, too,
I hope that your girlfriend (or “boy--”) cares
And gives you the gift
That speaks “I Do,”
Then away flies your “Life is unfair!”
Where kisses are free, and you save one for me,
I’d love to taste some of that honey,
Then Christmas would be sweet,
And the sun for you peek,
I’ll remember then it’s not all about money.
The landmark was given the name
"Exclamation Point," and indeed it became
the most exciting place I'd ever known!
The "parentheses" between us shone
of sun "dashes" splashing
on the "comma" aquamarine.
My fashion "square bracket" charms swayed
like my body stayed in Mark's trustworthy arms.
Our eyes simultaneously met
the first "asterisk" set in the sky, shining brightly.
"Make a wish," he whispered softly,
"and close your eyes tightly."
When I opened my eyes, he was down on one knee!
The "question Mark" asked next
was actually my silent request!
He pulled the "asterisk" from the sky,
and lovestruck eye to eye,
he gently slid it on my consenting finger.
Then suddenly swans graced the stage
like a princess rescue in a storybook page.
We agreed to continue our courtship that day
the "semicolon"ial biblical way.
How difficult it was that magical night,
amidst the "ellipsis" Little Dipper kite,
but we wanted to honor our great Creator.
A longing "period" of three months later,
down a driftwood isle along the same sand
our "carets" met "ampersand" hand-in-hand.
4/19/19
Die twice exclamation mark.
Torment signaled basilisk
farce.
Die twice rolled,
freezing my snake eyes!
What a Soul you have!
And all your body a slit in
my perception,
a cut to deepen my ignorance
of what little I see of you.
Better I get a taste
than swallow you whole.
!, !... !(!)
Not in title'd
her **** fell flat
Jan's great title
lacked impact
I've got blue ****
so matter of fact
no choice but to shout it
BLUE **** IN ALL CAPS
It's relatively a slow process.
A thought builds upon anticipation.
Thanks to the nostalgia ingrained by Disney.
Musically the songs are different.
Granted the press of a thumb.
Spotify, Pandora.
An assortment of different streams all profoundly deep.
Separately, the adaptation is the same.
Boy meets girl.
Eyes go on vacation.
Suddenly we're dressed in leisure.
Beautiful sights ingested by the brochures of a hotel lobby.
Just yesterday none of this seemed possible.
Everything crowed into the bends of a folded booklet.
Lost in the sensation of influential taste.
This was my outlook.
A yesterday morning spent in the hotel lobby of my own interest.
I am in sense booking my own fear.
This slow process that begins it's advance.
A millennium that begins a couple seconds past twelve.
She was the art visually spread across the brochure.
With arms wide open I fell in.
Speeding up this process ever slightly.
I still a consumer at best.
Her being the best vacation I ever been.
I am in sense booking my own fear.
Her love.
Further more exploring the secret of her parenthesis
Life's
Tempo
Airy
Note
Sing
Blasts
Fervor
Wee
Hour
Here
To
Lend
Joy
Beyond the exclamation point there is a silence In the center of my heart A no fly zone that disavows all things but light And the awesome grace of God
We were strapped in ready for take-off,
the engines churning around us.
We'd longed for this moment,
but when it came we were scared rigid,
wondering if we'd survive.
"Countdown to take-off!" the captain roared.
Gritting our teeth we made ready.
pushed hard into our seatbacks with stomachs
turning cartwheels we were off at last!
bright lights and bogus noises
surging from under the blankets.
There was a wobble and a whistle,
the signals to burst out at warp speed.
Our bodies felt the rush, the rumble
and finally the jolt of the touch down.
"Look out the peephole! We're on the moon!"
the captain cried. And sure enough, we weren't
in Kansas anymore. The moonscape was
strangely full of familiar looking objects,
Grandma's afghan flowing like a river,
what looked like the pillows
from Jimmy's bed, crumpled like space debris,
and my school project, a volcano
puffing out baking powder.
Yep, this was the moon alright.
"Imaginations still intact!" Jimmy yelled,
"but how are we gonna get home?"
From the silence she exclaimed:
I make my own sunshine
Though the clouds and rain may come:
I make my own sunshine
From the stillness the exclamation came
Stronger than any being
A triumphant calling:
I make my own sunshine
Power beyond words
A beauty
Above
Life:
I make my own sunshine!
Russell Sivey
that simile of a smile
in your knowing eyes
freezes whatever is left
of my confidence.
i feel like a terrified
exclamation point
hurrying off to the tip
of a brave sentence!
When I was a little girl
Playing with dolls and siblings
Wanted to be Barbie because
She had Ken and all the cool stuff
An image for a perfect future
When I was a teen and my life expanded
Hanging with my friends at the Freeze
Weekends full of dances and dates
Driving a stick and sleeping in late
My future was an algebra equation
When I was in my twenties
Had the world by the tail
A golden time, everything shiny and new
Happy with life, family, you
My future was a dream
Those days are long past
I am at a crossroad with no clear sign
Sometimes feeling like a child again
Kiss the hurt mom, make it disappear
My future is a question mark
Can you give me what I need?
Can you be what I’m looking for?
Can you kiss the hurt and make it heal?
Can you erase the question mark?
Leaving instead an exclamation!
I am flying
I am screaming over the world with a light heart
Eternity just seems inadequate tonight
Just lying here so unaware of everything
This is so much more than nothing
These stars came out just for us
I can't think of anything other than you here with me
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