The Grammar Store

It is a little storefront
Where people come
To buy
The tools that show
They are smart

There is a cash register
But the shelves are empty
The stock is all in the old
Proprietor's head

He opens at 9 every morning
He closes at 9 every evening
It gets busy until 5 in the afternoon
He takes his sack lunch
And the leftovers are his dinner

He is surely thin
But his mind is vast
And when a customer asks
"Should I use a comma...
"Or what do you suggest?"
He answers that, based on
What you have told me, Madam,
A semi-colon would work best

The register rings
But there is no package
It is now in the customer's head
And the next customer comes in
With an empty slot in his vocabulary
And the Proprietor suggests
An ampersand will do just fine

The phone rings
It is a busy executive
Writing his speech
The word he seeks is nowhere to be found
He asks the Proprietor
What is the word that will best explain
What I am trying to say
And the Proprietor answers with
Three words, the best choice of which will come
After the busy executive researches their meaning
In a dictionary

At the end of the business day
There is scant coin in the cash register
Barley enough to pay the landlord
But the Proprietor
Comes again the next day...and the next
The package he passes out to customers
Means more to him than his rent