! . ? , *

An odd gift! A good idea? Memories...
Retrospect doesn't always offer clarity.

I gave them each a T-shirt with an iron-on punctuation mark amateurly emblazoned on the chest. The sleek, minimalist design of a Times New Roman question mark or exclamation point had an aesthetic quality that catered to my sense of style; clean lines, clear and definite, and with a clever reference to the linguistic. (Roland Barthes taught us that fashion could be read. Maybe this was an effort to provide some punctuation for the text clothes offered to us for our reading enjoyment.) Misguided teenage creativity may be an excuse for the poorly made, badly designed, Christmas gifts I gave to my closest friends that year.

I wonder if they wear them? I doubt it. I wonder if they ever wore them? Maybe to bed. If they were sleeping alone. I wonder if they have kept them as a keepsake? (Not that I would want them to remember my pathetic gesture) I doubt that too. These white tees are probably strewn across the country hanging amidst the other second-hand store items that still remain too ugly even for the thriftiest of shoppers to buy.

Some people write bad poetry or are forever doodling in the margins of their much under-used math notebooks. I made bad t-shirts as Christmas gifts for my close friends as an outlet for my cliche need for teenage self-expression.

I still love the subtle pleasing shape of a Times New Roman question mark.