when format is all we have

scantily clad nouns
make for the barest reactions
when verbs are chasing after

and adjectives missed the bus
giving adverbs no work for the day
naked sentences wear grim expressions

and punctuation finds itself huddling 
on street corners, fingers wrapped around
prepositional bottles, swigging articles
to forget

why do titles matter in a world 
of abandoned theses
we could come up with a plan of development
to make things better.

but the essay will still not reach
the required wordage,
and those nouns will still shiver
even when the hottest conclusions

are reached.