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# Do Tell
- URL: https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/do-tell/
- Published: 2023-06-19T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2023-06-19T12:00:00.000Z
- Description: Implored, and more than once, to show, not tell, I nonetheless avoid all ASCII art, preferring both to punctuate and spell, and pry unruly 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 nonetheless avoid all ASCII art,  
preferring both to punctuate and spell,  
and pry unruly paragraphs apart.

I struggle, still, with this unbidden rule.  
Since pictures may be worth their weight in gold,  
the alphabet, once man's most trusted tool --  
has fallen out of favor, gotten old.

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.

Treat "show, don't tell" as something short of scripture,  
though everything you write should paint a picture.