Up-Speak

You hear it in each line-- the upward lilt
that turns a period to question mark
and draws the eyebrows into quizzic tilt.
A statement needn't end in some gruff bark
but certainty is crippled by the curve,
the ghostly serpentine of up-speak. Level
out that sentence, gather up your nerve:
assert some confidence and shame the Devil.

A thoughtful speaker (soi-disant) inflects
a statement with a falling end, a sound
of purpose, showing gravity and ground.
It's said, the deadly rising circumflex
suggests self-doubt wherever it is found.
Or maybe that's what everyone expects.

Collection available! Knocking from Inside