I’m posting prompts for the 30/30 Challenge here on Open Notebooks.

This is a rough-cut visual poem I made called Man on Cigarette Break at Bus Stop in the Rain. Click on the video twice to see it full-size.

Cigarette Break from Karen McCarthy on Vimeo.

I was sitting in cafe staring at this bus stop and it was twilight. It was between 5-6 pm, people were leaving offices and hurrying home in the rain; I liked the shiny surface of the road, the way passers by flickered in and out of the frame. So I took shot after shot on my point and shoot digital camera. Then a waiter came outside on his cigarette break which gave me a time frame.

Recently I discovered Brixton Library. I knew it was there but had no idea it was so well stocked. I picked up the excellent Art of Punctuation (Noah Lukeman, OUP) and recommend it. I’m currently reading the chapter – yes, a whole chapter! – on the semicolon. Here’s an excerpt.

<big> More so than any punctuation mark, the semicolon is designed to help the surrounding punctuation. It is the ultimate team player, its very existence relative to others. Thus context must always be carefully considered when employing the semicolon. A semicolon can be called in when a comma is not enough. There are times when the comma has already been used too much in one sentence, when it runs out of steam and simply can’t do its job anymore. There are also times when multiple thoughts in a sentence need more seperation than merely a comma, need more time and space to be digested. But a full-stop is sometimes too strong. A semicolon can step in and save the day, allow a more substantial pause while not severing the thoughts completely.

Note: The semi-colon should never be used to link two sentences unless they are closely related. For example, this could work:

The police station was close to his house; he would have to be careful.

But this could not:

The police station was close to his house; he needed to do his laundry soon.

So, on to the prompt:

Write a poem focusing on an event that takes place in the rain and that occurs within a short time frame; use a semicolon.