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# Do Tell
- URL: https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/do-tell-16444441/
- Published: 2022-03-28T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2022-03-28T12:00:00.000Z
- Description: Implored, and more than once, to show, not tell, I've nonetheless avoided ASCII art; though in response -- no tougher clientele -- agreed to split my paragraphs apart.
- Author: A. Gee
- Tags: Poetry, Sonnet, Allpoetry Import, #Import 2026-04-25 19:56

Implored, and more than once, to show, not tell,  
I've nonetheless avoided ASCII art;  
though in response -- no tougher clientele --  
agreed to split my paragraphs apart.

I struggle, still, with this unbidden rule.  
Though pictures may be worth their weight in gold,  
the alphabet remains a useful tool,  
and stories, without telling, can't be told.

Is there some tongue in cheek to my response?  
Hope I've not bitten more than I can chew,  
and this -- though no Petrarchan Renaissance --  
is where the couplet bids to say adieu.

A poem need not be a picture show,  
and adjectives alone don't make it so.