unfinished business
the semicolon is unfinished business;
don’t use it if you are not willing to deal
with unfinished businesses;
an invitation you cannot refuse
to take a leap beyond the known
to explore what lies ahead;
a separation that does not divide
but rather bonds
those which are separated;
know that it can become
larger than life and cannot
be bothered even by death;
a flow greater than itself
rolling waves on a quest
to bring us closer home;
– © said sadain 2019
Notes
These days, my weeks and months are seemingly being strung together by a series of semicolons that have taken me to many here and there — mainly occupational work that may not be taxed in this part of the world, but nevertheless, taxes the health; some travels; moving house, or more like shifting furniture than an entire house; welcoming a new, lovely granddaughter; getting past a surveillance audit for the ISO-9001:2015 certification; bonding with more grandkids and the parents who conjured them; while always, always keeping a wary eye on what’s on and over the horizon near and far…. — but rarely near my blog.
I owe many apologies to our community of bloggers for neglecting this spot with nary a warning nor an explanation. But of course you know that this is bound to happen with someone who prides himself as a part-time writer.
So with this post, I bid you welcome and goodbye once more, and leave you with several links to related readings about the semicolon; hopefully, these are enough materials that you can come back to for further reading, until my next post sooner than later. Enjoy the weekend!
— Said Sadain, 19 Oct. 2019
Related Readings
How to Punctuate with Style: Lewis Thomas’s Charming Meditation on the Subtleties of Language
Vonnegut’s Famous Semicolon Advice Was Taken Out of Context
The Virtues of the Semicolon; or, Rebellious Punctuation
Notes on Punctuation by Lewis Thomas
Semicolons: A Love Story
The History Of The Semicolon (And … How To Use It) [An NPR On Point Podcast with Cecelia Watson, author of the book “Semicolon: The Past, Present and Future of a Misunderstood Mark”]
Project Semicolon
Project Semicolon Promotes Suicide Prevention & Mental Health Awareness
Beautiful post. Welcome back and congratulations on your new granddaughter.
Thank you so much, G! I’m not sure why your comment did not automatically appear on the page but instead went to the Spam folder which I just now had the chance to review. Of course, your comment is always welcome. And yes, the granddaughter is quite a bundle of joy, the very first one among my 5 grandchildren that I have the pleasure to meet right after delivery! 🙂
Please cover apostrophes next 😐
Thanks for dropping by, Yacoob! Haha, apostrophes are more slippery, sometimes seemingly lazy, sometimes seemingly efficient. And if one is not too careful, one can easily get owned in a single stroke, so thanks, no thanks, I’d rather not dabble with apostrophes 😀 Hey, I may have missed update(s) about your book project. Is a completed version available already?
Apostrophe abuse is what bothers me most…CD’s, T’s and C’s, and much, much worse…
The book progress has ebbed and flowed, but I hope to publish an update soon insha-Allah – with a newsletter signup. The updated, completed version is now in for final proofreading, and I finally figured out how to get the formatting right for the e-book, so hopefully the way is now clear and it won’t be much longer for the electronic version.
You are on my list of interested parties, though – but I hope you’ll sign up for the newsletter once that’s out there. I think that’ll be a better platform for getting the info out there and building up to the full release.
In shaa Allah, you get over that last mile for the book project smoothly! Thanks for keeping us updated!
Nice.
Thank you, Gorman!
One of your most clever and thought-provoking pieces.
Thank you, Mike!
I loved this piece!
Thank you for loving this piece, Mitch!
I’m in the pro-semi-colon group; some things cannot be said adequately with a period at the end. I do love how you ended your poem with one. Sorry to see this is a drop-in hi/bye post (which I asked you just a moment ago in a reply to your comment on my pantoum); out living life is an acceptable reason. Congrats on meeting your fifth grandchild right away; this one will be close to you, I feel. You declined covering the apostrophe, but would you consider doing on on “-ly”? I’ve seen more than once advisements against using any -ly words.
Thank you, Ms. Jade. 2019 has not been such a good year for blogging for me. But I try to lurk around to read blogs whenever I can 😎 As for the ‘-ly’ matter, I wonder why people would even advise to avoid it?! It seems so much useful, so pleasantly innocent (or perhaps better, innocently pleasant?), to be feeling unwelcome in any situation, it should have been included in the musical notes as well 😊
Well done, here’s to exploration and incompletion. Wishing you all the best in your wide-ranging endeavours, Said. 😉
That was supposed to be a text emoji with a semicolon, but it got transcribed. Oh well.
Thanks, Steve. O yes, I did see that semicolon, in all its glorious becomingness, in the email copy of your message. So all’s good and well; the world’s set right 😉
Thank you for stopping by my blog. Fun poem about the semicolon!
Blood moon always catches my attention 🙂 My pleasure, CKatt. And thank you too for dropping by!
Have a great weekend. Thanks.