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The Chicago ‘Manual of Style’

The Chicago Manual of Style is really neat

when your composure cracks and ghosts

of silly girls come whispering to bother you –

this happens late at night – just kids

out for a bit of fun with a convertible

and a bottle of vodka like in a movie,

and ‘Hell,’ you think, ‘did I do that? Was I

involved with that mad young bitch

the cops were after down at Sunny Point?

Was that me in Dad’s truck with the throttle

stuck open, cracking ninety down the beachfront?

With that... brunette... uh?’ Just about then,

on the edge of love and terror, the Chicago

Manual of Style appears and takes you home.

Reproduced with the kind permission of the author, John Tranter. The poem is published in John Tranter,"Crying in Early Infancy -- 100 Sonnets", Makar Press, St.Lucia, 1977, ISBN 0 909 354 19 7.

John Tranter is the Editor of Jacket magazine: http://jacketmagazine.com and Project Manager of the Australian Literature Resources: http://www.austlit.com/a/index.html

We have some more information about Style Manuals.