Enjoy these winning entries from our past punctuation poetry contests!

 

The King of Ing

I love the King of Ing
He makes me want to sing
Add him to an action word
And it's a gerund... now a thing!

-- Nancy Wright

Parts of Speech I Don't Like 

The articles!  The determiners!
Oh, what trouble they bring to the budding English speaker.
These things that don’t exist in many tongues,
And when they do exist, they change and don’t make sense.

 

 

 

The articles!  The determiners!
Oh, what trouble they bring to the second-language English teacher.
Why can’t they get them?  Why can’t they use them?
And when they do get them, why don’t they use them in a way that makes sense?

Teacher, please to tell me why is it a drink and not some drink?
Let’s get pizza, a pizza, some pizza, one pizza, how to say it? 
Don’t count the pizza!  It’s not one pizza unless you’re counting.
Can you come over for a dinner tonight?  Why not like that?

The articles!  The determiners!
The bane of second language learners—any questions?
Any?  Why is it any?
Never mind, we’ll just keep practicing, even when they don’t make sense.

-- C. E. Varney

Interjection! 

Oh!  Wait! Please!  I must interject!
What part of speech’s better for a burn or broken neck?
What other part of speech will get your mouth cleaned out with soap?
What serves a finer purpose when expressing love or hope?
What gives the onomatopoeia life?
What part of speech tells better strife?
What else comes with such emotional inflection?
Yes!  Hurray! It’s no surprise; I love the interjection.

-- Cara Hiripitiyage

 

Ode to the Comma

The female body part of punctuation,
So tiny, yet able to arouse such aggravation.
The comma slips in under the quotation,
Tells you when to pause for reflection,
Then plunge ahead to the period's conclusion.
Neglect it at your peril: accusations,
law suits, wars. Nations
fall. Pretend it doesn't exist at all? Risk condemnation.
Treat it right for absolution.
That's right, put it there: Yes, oh, yes . . . satisfaction.

Stacey Harwood

Stacey Harwood is a policy analyst with the New York State Department of Public Service. She is a freelance writer and managing editor of The Best American Poetry blog.

The Exclamation Point!

The exclamation point is greatly overused!
One could even say it is frequently abused!
In advertising copy, it repeatedly resounds!
And in breathless prose, it literally abounds!
The poorer the writer, the more frequently the case!
The exclamation point, they readily embrace!
To give a little emphasis! To make a little point!
This punctuation mark they will appoint!
But, to make emphasis perfectly clear,
Good writers generally appear
to make little use of exclamations
and other such typographic affectations.

-- Ed Truitt

Ed Truitt is a science writer at the Weizmann Institute of Science

Dear Semicolon

Dear Semicolon,
My sweet misunderstood darling,
I swear that even in times when
It feels the whole world has turned
Against you,
My love will not falter.

How many times,
Before we met, did I question
Whether to use a comma or a period?
Those were the lost times,
Before knowledge of you graced my life.
Where have you been all my life?
Was my thought. But you had been waiting
Patiently below my little finger,
Which was too timid to touch you.

You were everything I was looking for.
For years, I had wanted to
Link two stand-alone sentences,
To show that they depend on each other,
Though they stand alone.

But my love for you, sweet Semicolon,
Goes beyond the basic need for you
And relief at finding you.
I am in love with your very essence, purpose.
You join two sentences,
Which are independent, and make
Them stronger by bringing them together,
Much like love itself joins two people,
Who are independent and
Yet somehow belong together,
Are better together.

Your devoted lover,
Connie Fusedwriter

Célèste Brott

Célèste Brott is a creative writing student at The University of Cincinnati and a proud member of the Women Writing for (a) Change community. Her writing has been published by The News Record and Cracked.com. For more of Célèste's writing and updated information about what she's up to visit http://celestebrott.110mb.com.

Ode to Em—

As you dash about, I admire how
Straight, crisp and lean you look;
And whether before, after, or between
Your words, phrases, and clauses—
You create bold—almost brash—pauses.
Your sharp, double-sided sword either
Interrupts, explains, or provides a crisp refrain—

Your more subdued and delicate cousin Comma,
More delicately shapes her conversational stance.
With a classic hook, an almost unstated elegance,
She crooks her tiny tea cup drinking finger and smiles,
While you slash and grin like a pirate defending his men.
On all matters of meaning, movement, and patterns.

Sandra Ridpath

Sandra Ridpath is an independent editing contractor who can be found on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Afternoon break—

cat sleeping
the comma

Peggy Curtis

Peggy Curtis can be found at www.nutsaboutphotography.com, Twitter, and Facebook.

Also check out  Ellipses Spurned by Eileen Burmeister!

 

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