Bad Writing
the sentence & the paragraph had agreed upon meeting at dawn
out in the middle of the page
as the reflection off the fine silver pen being lifted by the human hand in the sky
shone off the bright white recycled paper
there stood one strong paragraph,
which
was armed with clever words, quirky verbs & quiet frankly,
a whole slew of other sentences
who may or may not be brought into the fray
with this
vigilante,
who stood a good distance away from the paragraph
with its shadow blotting out part of the page-
the sentence was tight
knit
&
written in a language that the paragraph had never heard of
before-
the paragraph tilted it’s font a bit, to stave off the human shifting the paper,
causing a bit of a breeze across the soft plane,
but the sentence hadn’t come here today
to waste its time flashing its
fashion sense, and in
standard
new times roman,
it spoke out in italics
“we gonna do this or not? ”
& the paragraph,
without a moment’s hesitation,
nodded, saying, in some bold n’ fancy variation of
book antiqua,
“i been ready since i saw the punctuation at the end of your
babbling jumble of foreign words”-
at that point,
the title of the page & the
header
walked in tandem to the place in between both the paragraph
and the sentence-
now equidistant apart from both,
they talked of what had brought both these forms of writing
to the page
this brisk & early morning in
june-
to make a story short,
the foreign language sentence & the
english (current language of commerce) paragraph
had come to this duel over a
beautiful
metaphor-
and while both the title & the header could understand,
having fallen for beautiful metaphors once or twice in their own
multiple drafts, themselves,
it was still a sad sight to see two
strong forms of writing,
battling over one
metaphor,
when there were so many
phrases in the
sea of literature-
the title & the header opened up the utterance
& from that utterance, they pulled two perfect
pistols full of wit
(the weapon of choice for both the paragraph & the sentence) ,
and after handing both of the forms of writing their
prospective pistol,
they stood back and off to the side of the page,
frightened of what was to happen next-
back to back,
the paragraph & the sentence marched away from each other
space by space by space,
to the traditional margins,
and when they both reached them
they turned round quick,
firing their wit at will-
the paragraph,
hefty & edited well,
was able to fire its wit faster,
as it had already gone through so many drafts, and had
honed its skill
whereby each word within it, had its own place
(it was a “ripped” paragraph, if you can picture it-lean & not very wordy at all) ,
however,
though the sentence wasn’t as well formed as the paragraph,
it was sleek & stealthy-
its words rolled off a human’s tongue when they read it
aloud,
and in this, the sentence was able to
wiggle itself around,
missing the mass spray of wit that had been fired by the
paragraph’s pistol-
as in every fight,
there is a winner & a loser,
this one was no different,
and the hefty, well edited paragraph,
had too much to move
and too little time to do so,
when the sentence wielded its wit towards it-
the sentence, relentlessly, kept firing,
not satisfied & not feeling safe,
until the paragraph, with all of its fellow sentences within,
crumbled to the page,
now,
a mere pile of
sentence fragments & misplaced
words & punctuation.
the sentence,
victorious,
nodded to the title & the header, who nodded back,
and walked out of the lamplight & into the shadow
to embrace the sweet warmth of its
beautiful metaphor
which had been watching the wit-fight
behind the margin.
poem by Andrew Delapruch
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Related quotes
The Purple Cast
A breath is not a word
A whisper is not a sentence
Pain is not a paragraph
But Pride and Prejudice do make a book
What is a word?
Where is a sentence?
Who is paragraph?
When is a book?
All these question race through our minds
The universal quest for understanding
Flat on our backs, we contemplate
While the ambulance siren sounds
poem by Cornelia Ceilings
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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What I have in advance are people I want to write about and a problem or problems that I see those people encountering and that I want to explore - it all proceeds sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, and scene by scene.
quote by Chaim Potok
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Masterpiece
A thought starts a sentence
A sentence forms a train of thought
From that train of thought comes a paragraph
A paragraph starts a work
A work sets a mood and fills the mind
Warms the heart or chills the soul
A work is finished and a masterpiece is made
poem by Matthew Wardell Petersen
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I never leave a sentence or a paragraph until I'm satisfied with it.
quote by Clifford Geertz
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
quote by William Strunk, Jr.
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Responsibility
Its not my responsibility
If you say you love me
(ooooooh)
(repeat paragraph)
I know for sometime
One day I would see you
(? ) what you say
Did I get it right
Is it you and me tonight ?
And you looked at me
And I knew wed be together
(be together)
You feel it too
What can we do
(feel, what can you do)
Come on, move up to me
I wanna whisper in your ear now
(do you want me)
When I get you home
Were gonna be alone
Disconnect the phone
When we wake up
You know the room is full of sunshine
We close our eyes and make a wish
Its not my responsibility
If you say you love me
(listen to what I say)
(ooooooh)
Its not my responsibility
If you say you love me
(its true)
(ooooooh)
Hey ! you call me back
cause Im not there when you want me
(do you want me)
The job on the phone
Every night and day
Ive got to get away
And on that we kiss
But I never said I loved you
(I love you)
Lets take it slow
Youve got to, got to let it go
Its not my responsibility
If you say you love me
(ooooooh)
(repeat paragraph)
(want you back, I need you back)
(ooooooh)
(repeat paragraph 5 times)
(want you back)
(I know I do)
(I need you back)
(I feel you do)
(want you back)
(I see you do)
(I need you back)
(I know you do)
(repeat paragraph)
What do you see
When youre looking straight at me
When I look at you
I tell you what I see
You dont belong to me
Sometimes its true
Youre gonna leave it when its over
(its over)
I close my eyes and make a wish
Its not my responsibility
If you say you love me
(ooooooh)
(repeat paragraph 5 times until fade)
song performed by by Heaven 17
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When people start writing there is this idea that you have to get everything right first time, every sentence has to be perfect, every paragraph has to be perfect, every chapter has to be perfect, but what you're doing is not any kind of public show, until you're ready for it.
quote by Irvine Welsh
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
William Strunk, Jr in Elements of Style (1919)
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
quote by William Strunk, Jr.
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A review was published in Nature, very scathing, essentially calling me incompetent, though they didn't use that word. I am putting a reply on my Web site in a few days, where I go through their arguments, paragraph by paragraph.
quote by Bjorn Lomborg
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Studying
Paragraph after paragraph
Books piled up high
Attempting seemingly in vain
to force feed my brain
as time zips on by.
Vast information
consumed all in one go
only to be forgotten soon as the clock
strikes 'time up' tomorrow.
poem by Shaqueena Celestin
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Thoughts (reloaded)
She got me worried it’s not funny,
Am not even taking it lightly
She got me thinking,
She got me strategizing,
She got my heart beating,
Soul searching for anything and everything
that's positive, comforting and motivating
But I its not there.
She got me worried it’s not funny,
Am not even taking it lightly
Everything she wrote is on replay,
Every time those words made a sentence,
dark thoughts filled head, my mind.
Every word she wrote is placed in a strange order.
While every time those sentences made a paragraph,
a river of tears filled my eyes.
I mean words you don't want to see in one sentence.
All I am left to do is assume and make my own predictions
and that got my mood down.
She got me worried it’s not funny,
Am not even taking it lightly.
poem by Sakhile 85TEN25 Koaho
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Q & A of November,2011
what is 'democrative'?
working definition: an adjective modifying nouns of variation in a
sentence within a paragraph or verse in poetry which is a participatory
theme in a book or thesis or poem or an essay or literary genre.
ideals: the highest freedom with responsibilities, reflecting highest
independent and humanistic zone even in time of crisis.it is just
the sparking abstractions!
Sometimes questions are not to be answered but to be provocative
upon the readers.
The multi-disciplinary poet tries to fix things up hower confused they
have been through times.
My Editing Has Been Done
To eliminate a sentence,
To make a paragraph more accepting...
Or censor a comment to make an issue less
Affecting...
May for some
Be what is needed to overcome
What is regarded as a topic
Not accepted or approved by those
Who review comments said by one!
But my editing has been done,
To accomplish what I have begun.
If what I say has been rejected...
I'll find my own exit when I've been shunned!
I'm here to enlighten not seek applause,
From everyone!
And if it has been decided
That my comments have divided,
I'm sure that something said...
Will enter the ears to stay in one's head!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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~April Fool~
April flipped herself in
Like a brand new paragraph
For i'd left off in March
And winter 'twas still the subject matter
The frost all but got me
Hypothermia of feelings
Once felt
Like coming into a heated June
My feelings they began to melt
But April flipped me in
Much like an April Fool
Vunerable and needy
Forgetful of what i had
Learned in school
And so another paragraph
Was formed
Along with the rain you did bring
Remind me-Mother Earth-
If you will
That not all flowers bloom
In the Spring
Aware that the showers
Are supposed to bring
Some Flowers that bloom in May
But ne'er prepared for
Story-tellers with eloquent words
That ne'er mean what they say
The flowers that later bloom
With brillance-aroma and Light
Take out the chill and hold on me still
During a most troubling dark of night
poem by Theodora Onken
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I think my prose reads as if English were my second language. By the time I get to the end of a paragraph, I'm dodging bullets and gasping for breath.
quote by Lynn Abbey
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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334
'Poetry has a great digestive system and can consume and recycle almost anything. It's the poet's persona that gives meaning to the process. The first important act of the imagination is to create the person who will write the poems. And that's not the end of it. We have to invent and reinvent who we are until we arrive at the self we can bear to live with and die with. Art demands of the artist the capacity for self-renewal. Without it, art withers. And so does the life.'
- STANLEY KUNITZ
what you were is not enough.
what you are is not enought either.
what you will be will always not suffice.
if you are a sigh
turn yourself into a word
if you are a word
reinvent reconvert
recycle
be not just a word
be a phrase
be this sentence
be this paragraph
be this short story
be this novel
be this universal prayer
of marvel
do not just be a nail but be a hammer
do not just be snail but be sparrow
what if you are nothing at all at the end?
then be the perfection of nothing
just be the best
of this reinventing
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Reinventing Ourselves
'Poetry has a great digestive system and can consume and recycle almost anything. It's the poet's persona that gives meaning to the process. The first important act of the imagination is to create the person who will write the poems. And that's not the end of it. We have to invent and reinvent who we are until we arrive at the self we can bear to live with and die with. Art demands of the artist the capacity for self-renewal. Without it, art withers. And so does the life.'
- STANLEY KUNITZ
what you were is not enough.
what you are is not enought either.
what you will be will always not suffice.
if you are a sigh
turn yourself into a word
if you are a word
reinvent reconvert
recycle
be not just a word
be a phrase
be this sentence
be this paragraph
be this short story
be this novel
be this universal prayer
of marvel
do not just be a nail but be a hammer
do not just be snail but be sparrow
what if you are nothing at all at the end?
then be the perfection of nothing
just be the best
of this reinventing
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Can You Hear Me ?
So you send them back
And I began to cry
But I can let you know
That I will let you go
You cover up your smile
And Im afraid to move
This time I get it right
Ill get somebody new
Youve got to sound that you mean it
(ooooh, ooooh)
(can you hear me)
Youve got to mean that you want it
(ooooh, ooooh)
(can you hear me)
(repeat paragraph)
Hey, when did this all start
Your (? ) stuff is your heart
And I have a night
When everything goes right
(? )
Too late to carry on
If I have a day
When everything goes wrong
Youve got to sound that you mean it
(ooooh, ooooh)
(can you hear me)
Youve got to mean that you want it
(ooooh, ooooh)
(can you hear me)
(repeat paragraph)
(? ) on your door step every night
Until I get to see you
I spend my weekends on the phone
Ill make you listen
Ill write a letter every single day
Until I get an answer
Im gonna try every single way
I know, Im gonna find you
Youve got to sound that you mean it
(ooooh, ooooh)
(can you hear me)
Youve got to mean that you want it
(ooooh, ooooh)
(can you hear me)
(repeat until fade)
song performed by by Heaven 17
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I'll write maybe one long paragraph describing the events, then a page or two breaking the events into chapters, and then reams of pages delving into my characters. After that, I'm ready to begin.
quote by Anne Tyler
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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