How pompous we must be to self appoint
To sit in judgement of a gifted peer
Discerning if a writer makes his point
Within the guidelines spelled out loud and clear
In robe of terry-cloth, beneath a lamp
Proofreading poems from our reclining bench
Where technicalities decide a champ
We scrutinize and give them not one inch
And even though we feel we're qualified
To judge a poem, one need not pass a test
We tend to let our conscience be our guide
Then have the gall to say, "this one is best"
There's nothing like a poet with a grudge.
Now ask yourself, to judge or not to judge?
5/2/2021
by Daniel Turner
Categories:
proofreading, humor, poetry,
Form: Sonnet
Life's margins are too narrow for proofreading: a poor catch of extra commas, profiles of girls and monograms of insomnia. For literature, an earthly life is just a couple of words in a not too coordinated sentence, let alone the poetry: here the author's headache determines the character's lifetime, here the area of a paper sheet limits his rectangular space of life… At this moment the protagonist is wondering why his black coat, which he puts on only once a year on Christmas Eve when visiting his wife in Woodlawn Cemetery, is worn through and why a lonely old poet is so cold in December in New-York?
should author tell him
I don't think so life's margins
are too narrow for
19.12.2019
The Darker Side Of Christmas Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Richard Lamoureux
Categories:
proofreading, death, life, literature, poetry,
Form: Haibun
Polite Pink
Perhaps a not-so perfect princess
Performing particularly pathetically
Persuasive Pink
Promoting purple
Pink, plunking piano
Passionate Pink
Photographing Pink
Perhaps playfully probably philosophically
Playful Pink
Prancing, painting, proofreading,
Pink is Me.
Categories:
proofreading, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form: Alliteration
The Importance of Proofreading
By Elton Camp
Many posts that I read
This firm caution need
To write and slap it online
Most often isn’t very fine
For it to be received well
Show that we can spell
Pretentious words eschew
When easier ones will do
Lest the readers have a fit
No words dare we omit
We also need to expect
Errors from auto correct
Here’s yet another helpful hint
We can “see” what we meant
My work, as an example, take
For I never make a misteak
Categories:
proofreading, humor,
Form: Rhyme
we don't care if we miss the season premier
we are too busy giving in to giving in
the breeze in the darkness illuminates the equality
we are heroes to each others' sanity, and we maintain by letting go and being ourselves
i am the proud gun that you want to shoot all over you
you are the satisfied sensation that i want to shine a spotlight on
together we create a sound like a rimshot catching the spirit at its most holy
the season premier we can catch next week anyway
this moment in time we may never again recapture in the same way
after all the rewrites, the proofreading, the editing, and the reediting,
we take the almighty plunge and where we land is where we are at our most relaxed state
we take it all in and simply allow ourselves to just be free
no matter the level of desire to swoop up the remote control,
the deeper the depths, we say in our own silent way, to hell with tv
Categories:
proofreading, good night, happiness, joy,
Form: Free verse
The sound of the presses
While they run at high speed
The reporters and editor
Trying to fill a town's need
The feel of fresh newsprint
And the smell of the ink
Working on broken machinery
Sometimes old and extinct
Trying to meet deadlines
Proofreading as i go
A fast-paced stressful job
But it's work i love so
To see the newspaper
As it comes hot off the press
Taking pride in my printing
For in so many homes it will rest
To leave at days end
And feel pride in my chest
Now the town's got their news
I can go home, get some rest.
Categories:
proofreading, on work and working,
Form: Rhyme