Stan Cooper
Cartoon by Don Hunt

!!! PUNCTUATION !!!

Punctuation, stepchild tool of writing
Does not get its write-ful due
If we stopped this literate slighting
It would be a literal coup

The period we see as a dot
Has such a vital essence
The reason we use it a lot
Is to forestall a run-on sentence.

Colons: are sometimes used
To act as sentencing braces
Colons called semi; help us fuse
Connecting multiple phrases

To combine a compound adjective
The hyphen-comes into play
Question marks? are for the inquisitive
While commas, show delay

If writing is your avocation
And hope writing you will master
Punctuate with punctuation
Averting literal disaster

©Copyright October 2, 2000 by Stan Cooper
Cartoon ©Copyright 2000 by Donald Hunt