Conjunction junction

Check out Rudyard Kipling’s very popular poem "If."


https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46473/if---


The word "if" is fraught with uncertainty much of time. It suggests what could happen without any guarantees. Kipling's "If" charges the word with hope and possibility; it becomes a challenge, even a rallying cry, to the listener.


This poem was enormously popular for a long time, and while it has somewhat fallen by the wayside in the U.S., it still makes lists of "favorite poems" in the U.K.


Consider writing an "updated," perhaps more personalized version of "If." Think of it as "If" for 2022, perhaps.


OR, consider writing a poem or prose piece with your favorite coordinating or subordinating conjunction starting each sentence. (Yes, grammar can be fun! Sort of.) Consider how you can shape the nature of the word (the way Kipling does with the word "if"). For example, words like "before," "after," and "because" suggest cause and effect, but what if what follows is a non sequitur?


The coordinating conjunctions are: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet.


Some common subordinating conjunctions include: after, although, as, as if, as long as, because, before, despite, even if, even though, if, in order that, rather than, since, so that, that, though, unless, until, when, where, whereas, whether, while.

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