apostrophe
- apostrophe
I
I'm a tad sorry for you floating markoften forgotten or in the wrong placetrivial as lint
a currant in a muffinsweet in the way that being correct is sweet
II
for years I circled its' on student papersexplaining that its'like irregardless does not exist
now I often let error stand
marks only sometimes usefulin this economy we've made
III
in English the apostrophe developed a voluminous appetitefor possession not just elision
swallowing es
womman is mannes joye and al his blis [End Page 36]
IV
savvy printers saving time and typechanged the way we scribe and snipetil we be roten, kan we nat be rype
V
you might understandwhen I rue myself
and turnneck tucked into torsolimb at a right angle
a flamingo sleeping on one legstill a body
a gust of wind could topple [End Page 37]
Natasha Sajé is professor of English at Westminster College in Salt Lake City and poetry faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing program. She is the author of three books of poems, most recently Vivarium (2014); a postmodern poetry handbook, Windows and Doors: A Poet Reads Literary Theory (2014); and a memoir, Terroir: Love, out of Place (2020).
