Only in grammar
can you guarantee
a past, present, and future
that is perfect.
I have had my share
of that perfection,
but yesterday,
the verbs were restless.
Some sprouted –ings
and flew around the room
as nouns
as if flying were a thing
to be desired.
The rest,
tired of being active,
pulled on their participles
and just stood there,
describing things.
Some of the nouns,
envious of all the action,
broke into a dictionary
grabbed suffixes willy-nilly
and put them on like tails
to strut among the verbs
symbolizing
something.
So many things were
happening,
And while much of it
was clearly progressive,
I sat in that hubbub
and longed for my
simple past.
year-struck 
In-Tense!
It’s all a bit of pretense. 🙂
I think the participles needed help — they were dangling!
They have a bad habit of that.
This is awesome – only you could make something as dry as grammer fun:)
Or grammar, if I could type:)
I’m so glad you liked it.
I might have had better luck with Spanish grammar if you had taught me English grammar first;)
I wish you had been my high school English teacher. I might know what all this stuff is called and which was which.
Since you write, you know a lot of it and how it works; you just don’t know what to call the different parts.
That’s absolutely right. The only problem is that I work as a writer and editor! But I am quite good at faking knowing what is what in a sentence. But if I’d had you as a teacher, I’d know.
You probably know more than me.
Would you mind if I printed this out and hung it on my office door? Not sure my students would get it, of course, alas, but colleagues would!
I would be honored, RAB.
I read through your perfect post of doing and being and suffixing, knowing that your perfect past is gone forever. However, those progressive verbs could get you back in touch with it.
I have been trying (in more ways than one).
Well, you know I love this one! Might wish to share with my students at some point, too.
I figured you could relate. And please feel free to share.
Simply love this one!
I’m delighted that you do.
Oh my God! When you thought you’ve seen it all, something simply hits you in the face! I absolutely adore you (my simple past) Beautiful:)
Thank you so much, and thank you for reading.
Love love love this!
It’s makes me happy to know that.
haha, so clever! yes, only in grammar… have you done much simplifying lately, ms yearstricken? hello… 😉
Hi, it’s good to “see” you again. Sadly, I find I cannot return to my simple past. 🙂
oh, glad to have the time to be swinging by again. it’s always a pleasure… 🙂 must be because it ain’t as simple as you “teachers” try to make it to be, haha. perhaps, we’d better be contented that things are progressive. 😉
How well I understand that, yearstricken… it sounds like gender bending to me…