Hi Terri,
Yeh, we had a fine discussion about all those little marks a while back. I
guess yr grammar school teachers couldn’t give guidance for where poetry was
yet to get to in using them! As you say the line breaks are an additional
way we have (as poets) of slowing reader’s down and helping them make sense
of what we’re doing...
And I was only asking because I saw one comma and I thought “why only one?”
So, I asked!
I guess you've tried it a few ways - and tried to eliminate all the little
scratch-an-sniff-marks before it appeared!
To extend what you’re saying a little, tho. I have a feeling that I have a
hidden agenda of how I use the little marks – and so sometimes come across a
poem I’m writing that can’t work with my hidden-from-me-but-I-use-them rules
and I’m perplexed until I change the way the little marks are used (and that
can solve the problems!). I find I have problems in putting a poem that
follows one punctuating set of internal-to-the-poem rules alongside one that
follows another set of internal rules. So, if I have a rule I guess it’s me
telling myself to “be consistent.” But that's only my rule (and it may only
be me who worries when I break it!).
Bob
>From: alderoak <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: New: Christmas Cards.
>Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2002 14:44:41 +0100
>
>hell! a comma slipped through the net!
>
>Seriously, Bob, I dunno about punctuation. I was hoping the lines would
>make
>it clear where you are supposed to breathe.
>
>I haven't quite come to terms with reconciling my grammar school education
>and a more rebellious wish to put all those little marks up against the
>wall
>when the revolution comes...
>
>Glad it worked anyway.
>
>Terri
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: The Pennine Poetry Works [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
>Behalf Of Bob Cooper
>Sent: 19 October 2002 11:07
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: New: Christmas Cards.
>
>
>Hi Terri,
>A fine poem! I never had a Christmas like this but I feel I'm there with
>all
>your aunts and uncles and all that was going on - it's working its own
>magic
>without needing a reader's memories!
>I like the use of brackets (unobtrusively) and I wondered about capital
>letters and full stops and all the other little marks and scratches that
>usually get themselves stuck around words. Grandmas, Aunt, Uncle Bill, Dad
>&
>Christmas get capped (no-one else). There's only one comma... Do you think
>more punctuation intrudes or may help?
>Bob
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >From: alderoak <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: New: Christmas Cards.
> >Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 09:47:00 +0100
> >
> >Christmas Cards.
> >
> >everyone
> >just everyone there could possibly be
> >on every kind of chair there possibly was (if they were lucky)
> >or perched on the arm (if not)
> >or squeezed in a gap between feet on the floor
> >in a circle
> >a laughing great circle of legs and Grandmas
> >arms and Uncles
> >sisters and cushions
> >cousins and brothers
> >and Dad
> >my Dad
> >calmly doling them out one by one
> >the cards
> >(what were they for, the cards?)
> >in a madcap Christmas game
> >betting pennies
> >big brown pennies
> >and threepenny bits
> >Uncle Bill flushed and winning
> >Auntie Josie jumping out of her seat and waving
> >in all my life
> >I'd never seen so much in all my life
> >
> >Terri )O(
>
>
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