There once was a man
who lived upside-down.
And people in his town
called him a silly clown.

He walked on his hands
with his hat on his feet.
It was a funny sight as
he “strolled” in the streets.

He’d sit down to eat in a
manner that was peculiar
with his head on the chair
and both his legs in the air.

As if this was not enough,
he spoke in a weird tongue
in which all of his words
were backwards strung.

So in the market, as he said,
“Lard of pound a need I!”,
he ended up getting punched
and a pair of black eyes.

And there was that day too
when he asked a pretty lass,
“Please me with dance you would?”
What do you think she did next?

The girl frowned, and well,
she whacked him on his head,
and then off she quickly fled
after calling him ill-bred!!!

Then, one wet, rainy evening
while “walking” up the hill,
he slipped and came rolling
down like the ball in skittles.

His head hit a hard rock,
and in a hospital he woke,
but in a miracle of sorts,
he had been fully cured.

So this is the end of the story
of the strangest man in town.
He now makes people happy,
in the circus, as a clown.

Because it would not serve any cause
for words to be read without a pause,
here comes a mark with a superpower,
and you can call that hero – A Comma!

It is always up and ready to assist
while separating the items in a series
like the list you’d use when you visit
a shop to get bread, milk and cheese.

Sometimes, it makes an appearance
in such a series before the conjunction.
Here, it’s known as the Oxford comma
as in alpha, beta, gamma, and delta.

It springs into action in a sentence
between clauses that are independent.
So it would then be correct to write –
the night is dark, but the moon is bright.

It separates the main part of a sentence
from an introductory clause or phrase.
As in – when I stepped out of the door,
I tripped on my cat and fell on the floor.

If there is a phrase or clause that isn’t
important to the meaning of a sentence,
then the helpful Comma encloses it all.
As in – Ben, the first one, had a great fall.

It jumps in to set off direct quotations
said by the speaker in conversations.
As in – Chloe said, “I wish I could fly
just like the birds in the blue sky.”

When writing a date, it’s used in a pair
to separate the year from the sentence.
As in – Years ago, on August 8, 1928,
June said “I do” to John as they wed.

If a title follows a name in a sentence,
then it is set off by Commas in a pair.
As in – Sandra Smith, MD, will now lead
the team in the department of pathology.

And numbers greater than four digits
are split by Commas into groups of three.
So start from the right, and you’d write –
100,000,000,000 stars in our galaxy!!!

Now you’d think that a pause in speech
is where the Comma is placed correctly,
but it would do you a world of good
if you remember the rules of its use.

The reason for that is simple, you see.
We all pause differently when we speak.
If you place Commas using your breath,
they’d be incorrect and make no sense.