Tuesday, September 28, 2010

National Punctuation Day (belated)

Last week in class, my crazy (syn. awesome) English professor decided to celebrate National Punctuation Day (the 24th of September) by asking each of us our favorite punctuation mark and to further elaborate as to why we favored it. Now, it should be noted that I was positively delighted to discover that a day so suited to my particular tastes annually occurs only two days after my actual birthday. So, naturally, I thought it might be a fun item of interest to discuss! : )

I actually had quite the hard time choosing just one myself. So, without further ado, here are my absolute favorites in order of preference:

1) The Comma [,]

Not so very original? Perhaps. Fantastically overused by little ole' me all the same? Most definitely. Anytime, anywhere. Need a moment to breathe, a dramatic pause, or yet another serpentine sentence? The comma's got your back. I trace back this literary Achilles' heel of mine to when I first became obsessed with Victorian-era literature with all its metaphorical mountains of verbosity, flowery prose, and notorious run-on sentences.

2) The Ellipsis [...]

No, this is not meant to refer to the stages of the moon nor the vastly overrated work of a Mormon madwoman's vampiric fantasies. This is a lovely mark of punctuation that allows the writer to move smoothly from one sentence to another, blending them together as a continuation of thought or stream of consciousness, even tapering off at the end of this rather drawn-out sentence in order to suggest that you probably already know where this argument is heading without me having to write another word about it...

3) Parentheses [(...)]

Oh, the thought you wish to interject mid-sentence that has the ability to reveal more or less (depending) on what you're trying to get across to the reader. It's like a cloaked statement, one that is hidden and removed from the rest of the sentence, but intrinsically linked to it as it directly pertains to the subject being discussed. Never underestimate the parentheses: although the information contained within may only be supplemental, it's probably just as (if not more so) important than the meaning contained in the words outside them.

4) The Colon [:]

The device that allows you to make a direct statement, and then elaborate on it immediately. Endlessly useful, I use these babies a lot more than I probably ought.

5) The Dash [--]

Inserted far too many commas, semi-colons, and ellipses? The dash is here to help you out. Fellow comma addicts -- don't be afraid of this little guy! Throw some variety into your punctuation crock and shake it up with a dash of... Well, you know what I mean.

6) The Quotation Mark ["..."]

Oh, quotes: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" ... Need I say more?

7) The Semi-colon [;]

I'm trying to get on better terms with this one, actually. For the longest time I avoided the poor thing like the plague without a clue as to its proper usage! We intend to change this by working on ironing out the little kinks in our budding relationship; inviting comma to join us for a house party is one of the many bonding experiences currently under consideration.

~*~

If you would like to learn more about NPD, or just the fun little in's-and-out's of punctuation in general, feel free to follow this link to an informative website. ~> http://www.nationalpunctuationday.com/.

All my love and a pile of commas,

Torey

What would you say?

You're a bit cliché
and I'm a lot neurotic.
I'm in love with words
& you're in love with you.


So, what would you say
if I claimed to be your muse,
took you by the hand &
asked your favorite star?


Then would you wish I'd
give up on the Words,
take my head away from clouds
& give it a chance to start?


~*~


Sheesh! Why so many love poems all at once?! I must confess, I have absolutely no idea where most of these came from... Okay, so maybe that's not entirely true, but they did all come at once; kind of like the inspiration to create this blog, actually.  ;)


I don't think I've ever actually written any love poems before these... And really, many of these don't even have to be seen as strictly "love" poems, they could be about lots of things-- anything and everything. I'll actually avoid explaining away whatever it is I scribble, just for that very purpose. I don't want to unintentionally (or even intentionally) narrow down the interpretation of these whatever-you-call-'ems. They certainly aren't written in any specific meter or form besides the one that resides in my head (which, let me tell you, follows absolutely no logic whatever!).


But anyway, since this is and SHALL be a creative blog, and think it is safe to discuss literary things, yes? 
So, I'm currently in an English class that I am positively LOVING (no joke!), and my current header for this little blog is the volta from Shakespeare's sonnet #15. Basically, we talked about how the last two lines created a new meaning for the entire poem in that it spoke of "engrafting" a beloved person, as you would a rose... e.g. I'm not very familiar with the particulars, but it has something to do with taking a long stem of a rose and grafting it into a base of another, and doing this over and over and over again until many different kinds of roses are preserved on a single bush. Anyway, from our discussion, we reached the conclusion that the words might mean that Shakes is preserving his beloved through his art, and though it does not bring [her-whatever] immortality (and he acknowledges the imperfection of his practice), it still keeps a certain part of [her] alive forever.
Awww... *tehe*


So, basically I'll be posting whatever stuff I happen to dream up myself, or anything literary/arts related that I deem worthy of bringing up. I'll definitely have lots of material to work with, as I'm currently studying the topic of Close Reading/Poetry... As you might be able to tell with how I've been playing around with capitalization, indents, structure of the stanzas, punctuation, intentional misspells (I know, for me this is almost painful!), placing emphasis on some words/not others and etc. 


Nothing too profound, I assure you... But damn, is this sure fun! :D


All my love & well wishes,

Torey

Pockets

I'm in love with the words
    written on your shoulders
and the folded paper napkins
    stuffed into your pockets.


I'm in love with words,
    but can never seem to find them.
My pockets must have holes in them,
    might I borrow yours?

I am You are

I am the starshine
    and you are the moonshine.
I am the nightingale
    and you are the lark.


I am the twilight
    and you are the streetlight.
I am the tail
    and you are the comet.


I am the wandering
    and you are the foundling.
I am the changeling
    and you are the constant.


I am the lines
    and you are the figures.
I am the free verse
    and you are the sonnet.


I never seem to know
where it is I'm sailing,
    but you always act like
    you know where to row.


But that doesn't matter
because when we're together
nothing ever making sense
seems so natural.

~*~

Note: wrote this while humming the tune "you take the high road, and I'll take the low road..." And it most definitely effected the way the lines are intended to be read, if that makes any sense.

Oh, well. It sounds right in my head.

Love,
Torey