rosary of words

i use words like beads to tell
the stories that haunt me
they are          strung on shadows of what
i know is
                        poetry and the gist of it

while you

sit and plan
each word and line to
an accurate death           that’s what you do
killing your words with
                                          the sharpness of your

newspaper prose             while I am the one

who lets words run wild
                                          like birds or butterflies and
lets them be as precious
                                          as life

Kim M. Russell, 9th June 2026

Image by Isabella Fisher on Unsplash

It’s Tuesday and Melissa is our Poetics host at the dVerse Poets Pub, where we are writing unpunctuated poems.

Melissa asks: ‘How often do we stop to think about the system of symbols we use in written language to denote where sentences end, separate clauses, change inflection, and so on?. I am speaking of: punctuation.’

She reminds us that poets ‘have long been creating form, meaning, and rhythm without using any punctuation at all’ and gives us examples by W. S. Merwin, Gertrude Stein and, of course, e. e. cummings.

For today’s prompt, we are having fun sans punctuation. We may capitalize lines, write in all lowercase, rhyme (or not), use enjambment or unique spacing, whatever other tools we use are completely up to us – only our poems must not be punctuated.

I have taken the final lines from the Mary Oliver poem ‘The Summer Day’ to create a golden shovel:

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?”

39 thoughts on “rosary of words”

  1. the freedom of the poem’s structure exemplifies the message in such wonderful wordsmithing:

    “killing your words with
                                              the sharpness of your

    newspaper prose ”

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  3. I love that you used Mary Oliver’s lines to create a golden shovel, Kim! And especially

    “that’s what you do
    killing your words with
                                              the sharpness of your

    newspaper prose             while I am the one

    who lets words run wild”

    As they should be! Wild and free, as precious as life.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  16. Beautiful write, Kim! Loved that killa last lines, “I am the one

    who lets words run wild
                                              like birds or butterflies and
    lets them be as precious
                                              as life!!!! 🩵🙏🩵

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  17. Such a lovely golden shovel that flowed so freely and beautifully, Kim.

    “killing your words with the sharpness of your newspaper prose” made me chuckle, especially because you juxtaposed it with this brilliant line, ” while I am the one

    who lets words run wild
                                              like birds or butterflies and
    lets them be as precious
                                              as life”

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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