so many of the wars
seemed senseless in retrospect
all of them in fact
but it was the war eliminating commas
that proved to be most ridiculous
all the lives and limbs lost
to settle a matter of mechanics
who manufactured all those land mines
who manufactured this maze of rules
do you recognize me standing here
like an oxford comma hidden in a fist
this one-armed human trying to pause
our never-ending apocalypse of grammar
—P.L. Thomas
Selected Poetry 