It's time this week to revisit and old (i.e. - one we've already played with) form. An abecedarian poem is one in which the verses or words begin with successive letters of the alphabet. I was inspired to think about this form again because I've been reading When You Are Alone / It Keeps You Capone: An Approach to Creative Writing With Children by Myra Cohn Livingston. In it you'll find a poem written by a ninth grade boy that begins this way.
So, your challenge for the week is to write an abecedarian poem. Leave me a note about your work and I'll post the results here later this week.
OrationIt's really a silly little thing, but it reminded my of how many clever and interesting ways there are to write a poem.
A Mexican hat is not to
Be undermined, especially when one can
Cee its innate qualities which
Dee golden color rev-
Eals. However
F one doesn't see the beauty:
G- wiz- let them go to
H or heaven but
I do not think they should be on this earth, or
Jail.
So, your challenge for the week is to write an abecedarian poem. Leave me a note about your work and I'll post the results here later this week.
A Little Waiting
ReplyDeleteA little waiting is
Basically a good thing.
C—I was waiting for the
D-livery of a package, an
Eight pound baby boy
Four-ever. Hours not centuries.
Gee, that seemed a long time,
Hours chugging along like days.
I huffed and puffed my en-
Jine, o-
K
Like I’d been told.
M-phatically, I’d like to add.
N
Open/shut out tumbled the
Penis package.
Question: was I
Right to wait
So long before delivery?
Too bad if
U say no.
V love him and are keeping him.--
We, meaning husband and me—
Xactly as he is.
Yes, he’s small and
Zzzzzzs a lot, but he’ll grow
Alpha-to-Omega, he will.
A little waiting is
Basically a good thing.
C—I was waiting for the
D-livery of a package, an
Eight pound baby boy
Four-ever. Hours not centuries.
Gee, that seemed a long time,
Hours chugging along like days.
I huffed and puffed my en-
Jine, o-
K
Like I’d been told.
M-phatically, I’d like to add.
N
Open/shut out tumbled the
Penis package.
Question: was I
Right to wait
So long before delivery?
Too bad if
U say no.
V love him and are keeping him.--
We, meaning husband and me—
Xactly as he is.
Yes, he’s small and
Zzzzzzs a lot, but he’ll grow
A-to-Z, he will.
©2010 Jane Yolen All rights reserved
A Little Waiting
ReplyDeleteA little waiting is
Basically a good thing.
C—I was waiting for the
D-livery of a package, an
Eight pound baby boy
Four-ever. Hours not centuries.
Gee, that seemed a long time,
Hours chugging along like days.
I huffed and puffed my en-
Jine, o-
K
Like I’d been told.
M-phatically, I’d like to add.
N
Open/shut out tumbled the
Penis package.
Question: was I
Right to wait
So long before delivery?
Too bad if
U say no.
V love him and are keeping him.--
We, meaning husband and me—
Xactly as he is.
Yes, he’s small and
Zzzzzzs a lot, but he’ll grow
Alpha-to-Omega, he will.
A little waiting is
Basically a good thing.
C—I was waiting for the
D-livery of a package, an
Eight pound baby boy
Four-ever. Hours not centuries.
Gee, that seemed a long time,
Hours chugging along like days.
I huffed and puffed my en-
Jine, o-
K
Like I’d been told.
M-phatically, I’d like to add.
N
Open/shut out tumbled the
Penis package.
Question: was I
Right to wait
So long before delivery?
Too bad if
U say no.
V love him and are keeping him.--
We, meaning husband and me—
Xactly as he is.
Yes, he’s small and
Zzzzzzs a lot, but he’ll grow
A-to-Z, he will.
©2010 Jane Yolen All rights reserved
Pass the Poetry Prompt, Please
ReplyDeleteby
Gregory K.
An A
Be
Ce
Darian?
Eek! Call
Florian
A Ball
ReplyDeleteA
ball
calls to a
dog and a boy
eagerly,
fighting for its right to
go high from a
hand and then fall
in a
jubilant curve, like a
kite, till the
licking
mouth
nabs it, considers
owning it
permanently,
quarrels with it,
releases it
sideways
to be caught
up with endless
vigor for the next
win, the next journey
extending into space,
yawing across the lawn,
zooming once again.
--Kate Coombs, 2010, all rights reserved
Greg--you are so naughty.
ReplyDeleteAnd Kate--I love :yawing across the lawn . ." The nautical image just perfect.
Jane
Am I allowed to cheat and post one I wrote a while ago? My daughter lives a three-hour drive away from me. I collected road signs etc. and made up an Abecedarium of the trip (not in order, of course)
ReplyDeleteLangley to Kamloops ABC (an Abecedarium)
Avalanche area at A&W
Bridal Falls & Box Canyon.
Check your fuel through critical accident zone
Dinotown to Dry Gulch.
Exit east onto
Flood Hope road & Falls Lake.
Gas up for the Gold Rush Trail.
Hope for huge savings and
important route information at
Jones Lake & Juliet Creek.
Keep right except to pass Kamloops.
Lear at Langley.
Merge to Merritt, maximum 50
No hitchhiking north on Nicola Road
Othello
Popkum, Portia, Peters or
Quilchena.
Rest area & road information at Rona.
Slower traffic keep right to Skinny’s Grill
Two or Ten-Mile Creek.
Use winter tires or carry chains
via 1, via 3 via 5. Vision limited
when amber flashing & for wide load.
X for the train then
yield to the Yanke bound for
Zellers.
© 2009 Violet Nesdoly (all rights reserved)
(poems @ http://vnesdolypoems.wordpress.com)
E-mail From A Cat-Sitter
ReplyDeleteTo It's Owner
A
Bout your
Cat.
Damn
Enimal ate my cactus.
F ing
G willickers!
How did it do that?
I
Just left the damn
Kitty for
Like,
Maybe a minute
N then --
O my poor garden! Forget
Pests. Your cat was in it!
Q t she may be, but
Regardless.
She ate my cactus! And
The fact is
U owe me another. And the cat?
Vomited up the spines
With her cat food.
X pect she’ll live.
You really should have gotten a dog.
Z ya.
---Barbara J. Turner
Thanks, Jane!
ReplyDeleteWANTED:
ReplyDeleteAble-
bodied man.
Caring, but not
deipotent.
Extremely
fun.
Gynophobic need not apply.
Handsome.
Intelligent.
Just and
kind.
Loving, and lovable.
Musical--a nimble dancer.
Obdurate and obnoxious persons will NOT be considered.
Personable? Check.
Quiet? Much appreciated.
Reasonable? But, of course!
Sophistication a plus.
Totally
unique.
Venerous? A little goes a long way.
Whiskered? Again, a little goes a long way.
EXotic? Oh,
Yes!--someone willing to be my sweet
zingaro!
© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved
Gifts
ReplyDeleteA
Beautiful evening in the
Country brings gifts of
Deer. You see them
Everywhere.
Fawns
Graze in your yard
Hop
In fields of alfalfa
Jump
Kicking strong back
Legs. Deer
Make
No noise
On this hill. They eat, sleep,
Play.
Quietly you watch them
Run faster than you ever will.
Swooshes of white
Tail flash
Under, over, gone.
Velvet hooves
Waltz on a silent
Xylophone and
You watch in wonder as deer
Zigzag into dusky air.
© Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
ABC Summer Break
ReplyDeleteAfter the end and
Before the beginning,
Classes have been
Dismissed.
Everyone has
Fallen under the spell of summer.
Giving way to
Happiness and relief.
Ignoring the educational call
Just waiting
Keeping the memories
Loving the freedom of
Managing time differently.
Never forgetting
Only
Preparing for the next.
Quietly
Regenerating
Students and
Teachers slumber
Until the arri-
Val of autumn
Wakes them e
Xcited to begin a new
Year of
Zany learning adventures.
Here's mine, inspired by the surgery of a granddaughter:
ReplyDeletehttp://deowriter.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/poetry-stretch-abecederian-poem/
This was fun.
Only You
ReplyDeleteA nyone
B ut you
C ould
D elve into my deepest secrets,
E xtract
F ibers of memories,
G rab them,
H old them to the light and
I gnite the fragile strands till they
J ump from the fire and
K url and
L ift into the
M id
N ight sky, like smoke sailing
O ver,
P ieces of my soul lost,
Q uickly exposed to
R eveal my un-
S poken dreams, but the
T ruth is, only
U would hold those fibers tight,
V alidating,
W ondering, loving,
X aulting in those precious strands,
Y ou, only you, the
Z enith of my sky.
Coming in a little late, but....
ReplyDelete"Hi de hi de hi de hi!"
I’ve heard it so many times,
Just that little well-
Known snippet of the
Luscious Cab Calloway’s
Most famous musical moment.
Never
Once has the
Person singing it to me
Questioned his assumption—
Really never considered that his
Sassy little scatattempt might not
Thrill me
Up and down like scales on a piano.
Vainly he (and it’s always a he)
Waits for my approving laughter, my e-
Xhalation of admiration. Instead I
Yawn.
ZZZzzz. I’ve
Already heard that joke
Before. Meanwhile
Cab Calloway rolls over in his grave,
Dying of chagrin, the
Echoes of his genius
Fading flatly.
Geez, buddy—just say, “Hi, Heidi.”
Hee! These are fab-u-lous!
And I forgot about this one...
ReplyDeletePink Carpet Alphabet
After her bath,
cavorting diaperless
(ever the fearsome gymnast)
heroically
she imitates Jiminy:
kangaroo-leaping miles
(nearly over her pillow),
quaquaversal,
repeating somersaults,
tumbling up valiantly—
a wiggle-limbed X
yelling “ZOOM!”
Heidi Mordhorst 2001
all rights reserved