Abecedarian Poems #2

Ahhh the ABCEDERIAN poem is back again.  This little engine that could puffs out many types of vapor! Check out the first time we wrote abecedarian poems here--pretty traditional approach. But today, we expand by using alphabet letters to substitute for people who shall remain nameless though their deeds will not.  And in the second challenge we work in sparsity, allowing only one word into the poem, per letter of the alphabet!

First Mentor Poems

It appears the poem is mis-titled here. I still like a poem read to me.

Writing Prompt #1

Pickup where Wheeler left off in the alphabet and continue to write about people in your life using only the first letter of their name.  Or, somewhat like Nemerov, be honest about "the daily rounds" by substituting a letter to allow the privacy of the unnamed.
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Second Mentor Poem

ABC
BY ROBERT PINSKY

Writing Prompt #2

Write a poem, a couple of them if you can, with only word per letter of the alphabet, weaving together your statement.  Start from the end of the alphabet and work backwards, start in the middle and cycle around, start with an important letter (your name?).  Write for 10 min. Ready, set, go!

Hear a PoetryBones writer's poem

Brenda McCaffrey reads her ABC poem "Visceral Wastelands."

For Discussion

A Poem for S.
BY JESSICA GREENBAUM
Because you used to leaf through the dictionary, 
Casually, as someone might in a barber shop, and 
Devotedly, as someone might in a sanctuary, 
Each letter would still have your attention if not 
For the responsibilities life has tightly fit, like 
Gears around the cog of you, like so many petals 
Hinged on a daisy. That’s why I’ll just use your 
Initial. Do you know that in one treasured story, a 
Jewish ancestor, horseback in the woods at Yom 
Kippur, and stranded without a prayer book, 
Looked into the darkness and realized he had 
Merely to name the alphabet to ask forgiveness— 
No congregation of figures needed, he could speak 
One letter at a time because all of creation 
Proceeded from those. He fed his horse, and then 
Quietly, because it was from his heart, he 
Recited them slowly, from aleph to tav. Within those 
Sounds, all others were born, all manner of 
Trials, actions, emotions, everything needed to 
Understand who he was, had been, how flaws 
Venerate the human being, how aspirations return 
Without spite. Now for you, may your wife’s  
-ray return with good news, may we raise our
Zarfs to both your names in the Great Book of Life.

​Source: Poetry Foundation