[Chris O'Carroll]

This poem was the best I could do on the subject. It appeared in the journal Defenestration.


In the Wink of an Emoticon

You catch my double meaning when
I semicolon right paren.
Colon left paren, I’m bummed;
Colon P or b, I’m dumb
(The plosive bump’s a dimwit’s lolling tongue).

When what I say’s not all I mean,
A sideways grimace on the screen
Makes typographical amends,
Alerts emoticonscious friends:
I'm really ; )

[Stephen Colley]

Michael
That's a VERY clever poem of yours. I especially like those first six lines. The only tiny thing you might consider is removing the comma at the end of L5.

Chris
I enjoyed your way of emoticonning us, particularly in the second stanza. If only I had my emoticonsciousness raised, I'd probably enjoy it even more.

Any other semicolonists out there to favor us with their renditions (or rendings) of The Great Semicolon Issue?

[Allen Tice]

Originally Posted by Michael Cantor

Biographical Note:

I am a semi-colon kind of guy;
enamored of the curlicue, the dot;
the quiet, understated way it’s got
of letting life just slide and sidle by;
a ritualistic pause that may imply,
a thing or two, a shrug, a sigh, is what
I choose to offer; not the cold-and-hot
assaults of passion that transmogrify

a subtle hint into a joust with God:
no images, no metaphors, no blood,
no wild-eyed horses dying in the mud;
I don’t make love or war, I simply nod;
and as I semi-smile and semi-bow,
my semi-colon arcs a jaded brow.

I remember you reading this at Modern Metrics in the East East East Village East. This emoticon is semicolonic in embryo.

[Carolyn Moore]

In another life, I worked as a copy editor and still faithfully buy each update of the N. American industry standard by Karen Judd, Copyediting [yes, one word]. According to that source, a sentence as short as "I looked outside; the weather was not nice" is better served by the less obtrusive comma.

'Just saying.

[Allen Tice]

I came; I saw; I bought a condominium.

[Carolyn Moore]

Here's another article, "The Semicolon Slut":
http://www.interrobangzine.com/essays/semicolon-slut/

. . . and I'm not sharing the link because I happen to be this issue's (the journal's latest one) Featured Poet and therefore they posted online three of my five poems that are in the print edition. However, that honor is why I found and read this semicolon article in the first place.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Welcome to Eratosphere, Carolyn, not only for your poetry and critical acumen, but also, I hope, as an active member of the Word Nerd Society which hounds those enthusiastic but careless souls who cannot, or will not, distinguish between loath and loathe, who keep a "tight reign" and who disregard the natural alliance between good writing and correct spelling. There is a US contingent and a UK congingent; some intrepid souls belong to both. As in church, the attendees are mostly women.

The Society has a standing committe on abuse of its and it's. We convene irregularly, but there is usually a good turnout, virtual refreshments, and sometimes a behind-the-scenes brawl. Welcome.

[Gregory Dowling]

Originally Posted by Janice D. Soderling

There is a US contingent and a UK congingent; some intrepid souls belong to both.

Put me down as a UK con-gin-and-tonic-gent, Janice.

[Janice D. Soderling]

And also as a top-notch proofreader!

Egg-on-her-face Soderling

[Carolyn Moore]

Janice:
What an honor! What an invite (whoops--that last, abbreviated word probably disqualifies me from membership). I will say that for years now I have considered the apostrophe an endangered species. I'm not for killing it off, but I have little hope it will survive this century except in a few shrinking preserves. (Heavy sigh.)