I love punctuation as an element of voice. I had a writing teacher once who said that "semicolons are just ugly." I didn't believe him then or now, but I do temper myself.
Along with "correctness," I think of different punctuations as being like the different musical notations for length of rest. Each of these three versions asks us successively to wait a little longer before we get to the next measure...
The storm sounded like Ma clearin’ her throat when I was loud at church, like a tractor engine that wouldn’t start, like a giant lonesome coyote lost from its pack.
The storm sounded like Ma clearin’ her throat when I was loud at church... like a tractor engine that wouldn’t start... like a giant lonesome coyote lost from its pack.
The storm sounded like Ma clearin’ her throat when I was loud at church. Like a tractor engine that wouldn’t start. Like a giant lonesome coyote lost from its pack.
Having long been a devoted member of the Joan Didion School of Fragments as Sentences, I'm a little partial to the last one.
