Writing Prompts: Alphabet

This is our first effort with the Abecedarian poem--a style that wears many costumes!  We take an additional approach today, the letters of the alphabet down the left side of the poem, and a focus on specific letter and its sounds in the second writing challenge.  See our second challenge with the Abecedarian poem and how we expanded on the form here!

First Mentor Poem

Poet Randall Mann wrote "Alphabet Street" in response to Prince's death, which he said "hit me hard.  It brought me closer to his music, and to a confusing, beautiful time, at fifteen, when I played ‘Adore’ on repeat; the italicized lines are from the song."  He dedicated the poem to two of his friends who "loved Prince so much" (poets.org).  Notice the structural device for the poem, A-Z alphabet.  This is formally known as an abecedarian poem.
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Source: poets.org

Click orange arrow to hear Mann read his poem.

"Adore" by Prince

"Alphabet Street" extended version with "Kat's rap" at  2:45. 
​Now that's poetry.

Poem Prompt #1

Write an A-Z poem about __________. Treat it like a riff; roll with the words, images, and story that want to emerge.  Next level challenge?  Try a Z-A poem.  Write for 12 minutes.

Second Mentor Poem

Before you read, write down three things: 

1. a word that means a lot to you
2. a sound you particularly like having in your mouth
3. a favorite word in another language

​Okay, now read.  Or listen to Wahmanholm read her poem here. 

O
by Claire Wahmanholm
Once there was an opening, an operation: out of which oared the ocean, then oyster and oystercatcher, opal and opal-crowned tanager. From ornateness came the ornate flycatcher and ornate fruit dove. From oil, the oilbird. O is for opus, the Orphean warbler’s octaves, the oratorio of orioles. O for the osprey’s ostentation, the owl and its collection of ossicles. In October’s ochre, the orchard is overgrown with orange and olive, oleander and oxlip. Ovals of dew on the oatgrass. O for obsidian, onyx, ore, for boreholes like inverted obelisks. O for the onion’s concentric O’s, observable only when cut, for the opium oozing from the poppy’s globe only when scored. O for our organs, for the os of the cervix, the double O’s of the ovaries plotted on the body’s plane to mark the origin. O is the orbit that cradles the eye. The oculus opens an O to the sky, where the starry outlines of men float like air bubbles between us and oblivion. Once there were oarfish, opaleyes, olive flounders. Once the oxbows were not overrun with nitrogen. O for the mussels opening in the ocean’s oven. O for the rising ozone, the dropping oxygen, for algae overblooming like an omen or an oracle. O Earth, out-gunned and out-manned. O who holds the void inside itself. O who has made orphans of our hands.

​Source: poets.org

Poem Prompt #2

Write a poem, heavily laced with a letter or sound and with the intention to communicate something—as the "O" poem communicates concerns about vanishing species and the shocked expression the mouth makes in reaction to the ecological crisis.

                          Let us know your chosen words or sounds for the poem.   
                             Leave a description in the comments section below.

Something Extra For Discussion

Source: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=37355