Asyndeton (a-syn’-de-ton): The omission of conjunctions between clauses, often resulting in a hurried rhythm or vehement effect. [Compare brachylogia. Opposite of polysyndeton.]
The street was bumpy, narrow, filled with potholes, almost impassable, cracked, and dirty. But, my FedEx truck could go anywhere. This street was a joke. I down-shifted to second gear and gave it a good helping of gas. I drove right into the pothole, thinking my intrepid truck could traverse it with a minor bump. I was wrong. The pothole opened and engulfed my truck. I was falling at least 100 MPH into some kind of abyss. I knew I was going to die. I shouldn’t have been so overconfident as I drove up the little street, but I had faith in my FedEx truck. We had ridden many roads together and never had a problem. Once we had ridden through a wildfire in California and successfully delivered a bathroom carpet set to a grateful woman on her front porch hosing down the front yard.
Or, there was the time we fell off a ferry boat docking in Seattle. We had all the doors and windows closed. We bobbed around for 10-15 minutes until the Coast Guard hauled us out with a winch. Nothing was damaged. My truck started right up and off I went to make my deliveries. There was a lobster lodged under my windshield wipers and my first customer let me boil it in their kitchen and we ate it together out on their deck. It was a wonderful experience, but now, I was on my way to my death. I made sure my seatbelt was tight and all my packages were secure.
Suddenly the walls of the pothole started to look like peacock feathers—beautiful glittering colors. My truck landed gently at “Pete’s Peacock Farm.” It was the next scheduled stop on my manifest! I was delivering a peacock egg to Pete so he could supplement his farm’s gene pool. Pete reached out and grabbed the egg and ran into his barn.
Well, my job was done there. I got back on the little road and started off for my next delivery. It was a fairly large bomb. I was a little worried, but what I had been through had prepared me. What could go wrong with a bomb?
Definitions courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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