051217c

The words leapt off the page, pelting him with questions, and then strangling him swiftly and silently. Nobody expects the typographical inquisition!

Declaration

Declaration

I got a letter from my mother today. It's sans cerif, so it's either lower-case "l" or capital "I". I think it is an l. Mom writes every week. Soon I'll be able to make a whole sentence. Alas, I'm really low on punctuation, and have not a single period, so I can produce nothing declarative. Still, there are many things I want to know, so I think I'll ask a question.

Today I got a space. Ha ha, that's what I say when I really got nothing. Always look on the bright side, Dad said. I'm envious. He could afford semicolons! How many can actually use a semicolon? Yet he'll give me nothing, nothing at all. I have to "make my own way."

I took a walk in the park. I saw that girl! Yes, the one I've mentioned. She is harmonious of form, she walks in grace, and her smile would melt the hardest stone. She sat on a bench by the duck pond, and I walked as slowly as I dared. I was in heaven! To cap off a perfect day, by the path, half-hidden by dead leaves, I found a period. Now all I lack is "I v ou". I can trade my question mark for at least one of those, I'm sure.

Today: disaster! I got home early, hoping for something from my mother. The box was empty. Upstairs, my apartment door was unlatched. I pushed it open, slipped inside. Nothing in the front room seemed disturbed, but when I got to my bedroom I found the floor awash with papers, clothing, and all the rest of my stuff. The mattress was askew and the letters and punctuation were missing. Nothing else had been taken.

I spent so long saving. If I start anew it will take forever! Even if I don't get robbed again.

I went back to the park, sat on my favorite bench. (The one by the duck pond.) I sat, staring at nothing. When someone sat beside me I was taken by surprise. It was she, staring at me with her dark eyes and bewitching brows. She held out her hand. On it: a question mark.

I nodded. It didn't matter that I had no words.

End

Publ., Daily Cabal, Dec. 14, 2009

Literary dinosaurs

Its one tooth a dangling participle
Thesaurus rex let out a mighty roar
vowels quaked
consonants trembled
words failed

060516

Repurposing


this fraction
this tiny fraction
colloquial in its redundancy
ever hear of 9/10? 87/88?
I thought not
talking heads, speaking feet
these words they do concatenate
and merge, their diffs they obfuscate
forget about, eliminate
each fraction must be SMALL
their usage doth aver

and that ain't all
they think that temperatures are hot
the paper on which they're printed
in flammabilis dangeri
temps get high?
they wonder what you're smoking
temperatures low?
there's a pill for that

get used to it fogy
move on to the present
if you want to talk
about 172/173
or any such frivolity
MAKE UP YOUR OWN WORD
we've rebooted yours

093013

yesterday's word of the day

bibibles
could be like Ace doubles:
bibles one way,
Q'rans the other,
but no--
nutritious drinks r
much less interesting
if more useful at lunchtime.