I’m delighted to share that Pilgrimage Magazine has recently published my poem “Jaspers Jumble in a Basket” in their latest issue on “Healing.”
Jaspers appear in multiple places in the Bible. I wanted to explore what types of jaspers exist, how are jaspers formed, and where do they appear across the world? This poem is the fruit of those budding questions.
Inspired by the poet W.S. Merwin, I wrote this poem without any punctuation. Merwin wrote many punctuation-free poems, such as “After the Alphabets” and “At the Same Time.”
Fun fact: the earliest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible also lacked punctuation. I recently finished the book Semicolon: The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark by Cecelia Watson. Watson discusses not only the varied history of semicolon usage, but also the history of punctuation in general. Turns out, punctuation has long had an expansive style that resists being nailed down with grammatical rules.
What impact does the lack of punctuation have on the poem above? How does a poem need to be written so the meaning is still clear? I’d love to hear what you think! 🙂
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