[Susan d.S.]

Not exactly Speccie-style, but I had fun with these obscure punctuation marks, all of which are capitalized.


Punctuation Gallant (diss, ambiguation)

Guillemets was going to Interpunct his Solidus
with a Bullet, or possibly a Dagger or Carret,
making Hash of his Numero, just two Degrees north
of his Ditto mark. He narrowly missed the Octothorpe,
dislodging his Obelus (always an Ordinal Indicator
of a man in his Prime). But Pilcrow Tilde the Section sign,
Underscoring his Understrike with a Broken Bar or Pipe.

It was the Currency of Asterism with a Tee;
Uptack and Indexed Fist, his Lozenge of Irony
and a Tie to his Diacritical Remarks about Non-English
Brackets for all but his Whitespace characters.
All of his Inverted Exclamations were to Nought.
He went out Backslash, with Dash and a great Interrobang.

[David Anthony]

Originally Posted by FOsen

Thank you, Davidf. I know you know the poem referred to.

--Give us a clue, Frank.

[John Whitworth]

Susan, I love it.

[Mary Meriam]

I predict "Punctuation Gallant" will win this contest.

[FOsen]

It's "Metaphors of a Magnifico" by Wallace Stevens - I've always wanted to use that device, too.

Frank

[John Whitworth]

No. I shall win. Frank's is better and may win also but it requires one to know stuff. Like about Wallace Stevens. Only poets know that stuff and some of us don't. Hell, Frank. send it to The Times Literary Supplement. They pay £60

[Jayne Osborn]

Ah, punctuation, punctuation; there is nothing better.
I absolutely love it! Punctuation makes a letter,
a poem or an article, a novel or a note:
Whatever uses proper punctuation gets my vote.
I praise it every single day; I couldn't live without it.
Will punctuation ever cease to be? Good grief, I doubt it!
For punctuation serves a vital function. We can't lose it.
It makes me rather sad that many don't know how to use it.

[George Simmers]

At Percival's effusive 'There you are!'
A nervous shudder ripples round the bar.
In seconds now, he'll start; guts clench in fear,
Knowing how he'll unleash, so we must hear
One dreary lumbering stream of words, extending
Without a break, or any sign of ending,
Meandering on and on from clause to clause
To phrase to clause to phrase without a pause,
Unstoppable, because to interrupt
Mid-flow would seem ill-mannered and abrupt.
We fume, but manfully resist the urge
To hit the mouth exuding verbal splurge.
Pity the man! Poor Percy's education
Included no firm drills in punctuation
To teach him that it's stops give utterance shape,
And to just jabber is to be an ape.

[John Whitworth]

Nice ones, Jayne and George.