(static)
by Melissa Allen
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static; interference; trying; to; tell; you
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This haiku was born out of sheer cussedness. I got irritated with everyone saying it wasn’t a good idea to put semicolons in haiku. I got irritated with everyone being down on semicolons in general. What does everyone know, anyway? I decided to write a bunch of haiku with semicolons in them and make everyone admit how great they were.
It turns out that the reason everyone says it’s a bad idea to put semicolons in haiku is that it really doesn’t usually work well at all to put semicolons in haiku. So my defiant experiment was largely a failure. Except for this one. I kind of like this one. And it has five semicolons in it. In case you hadn’t counted.
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This monostitch is a huge success, Melissa. Although true that semis don’t work with most haiku, the generally much maligned punctuation boasts a fine subtlety that I admire. Thanks. ~ Donna
Thank you, Donna. Yes, I’m a big fan of the underappreciated semicolon.
I thought this was successful as well. It gives your work pause in a way that commas do not. It’s funny how symbols mess with our heads.
Thanks, Russ. Yeah, the point of the semicolon is that you stop…but not completely.
aloha & Hau’oli Makahiki Hou (Happy New Year) Melissa.
do I notice a pattern here??
poking up your cuss-ed irritation does seem to challenge your muse into full flame raging beauty to which you reciprocate with relentless and often breathless wow and massive how-the-fudge did she do that armor. . . . .I mean work.
clink and cheers to your muse. and full breath beauty on to your 2013 word warriors. . . . .I mean work. wait. I mean play.
oh. and especially laughter; onto; You.
(okay, okay, I had to try. you do spat down that challenge, you know. from time to time every fudging day after all—even if it was only a double. it is a semi-colon. isn’t that what that means?? oh fudge on me, just keep doing. i mean writing. and if you ever have doubt, just LQQK at your business card. it’s sure to indicate your direction.)
writer on and stoke the pen full bin max with flame and fuel. aloha and fun on you too. that’s the way it’s supposed to be. . . . .at least according to my flaming fudge muse. cool. – r
Ha. They turned us from Writers into Technical Communicators and made us get new business cards, but I kept the old ones. They can’t take that away from me. Yeah, okay, I am a hopelessly stubborn cuss. Thanks, Wrick. Aloha and happy new year to you.
oh bother. ha. any time you want me to make you a business card. . . . an official Writer’s business card. . . . just let me know what you want it to say. i will make it official. ha.
until then make copies of the writer card.
Technical Communicator?? what is that? erm. . . . no comment necessary.
imo, you are first and foremost and always be an awe inspiring inventive original wow writer.
p.s. i take set out the recycling and trash too.
aloha
Oh, I still have 50 copies of the writer’s card and since I never use them they’ll last a while.
Yes, technical communicators are unspeakable.
wow that last statement of yours has to have about 90% one line ku in it. . . . ??
technical communicators unspeakable visual out box
nah. you play with it.
. . . . and leave your writer cards in publishing widows (or sills). . . . . just a thought.
This works really well.
Robert
The semi-colons work well in this poem.
love it!
I love this haiku (as I love most of your work). A true poet knows the rules, and knows how and when to break ‘em.
Thanks, Robert, Jessica, Pat, Jean. I appreciate your comments!
Love it. And I love semicolons, too. I just used one in my last poem (though it wasn’t a haiku, so perhaps I was cheating…). Be well~
Thanks, bussokuseki!