The prompt for the day, challenged us to write an abecedarian poem – a poem in which the word choice follows the words/order of the alphabet. This is a prompt that lends itself well to a certain playfulness.

If you need some examples? Check out this poem by Jessica Greenbaum, this one by Howard Nemerov or this one by John Bosworth.

Dear Papa

A stray cat
beat his tail 
cautiously. I 
didn’t register the
electric
fear in his eyes—
ghostly,
haunting.
I should have though.
Just behind him the
kitchen drapes blew
lightly, almost imperceptibly.
Maybe the cat was
new in town not knowing
open windows have spirits’
permission to enter.
Queens have come and gone 
right under our noses like this.
Strange happenings
these days—-right.
under.  our.
very. noses. I
wonder who  it was that night.
Xavier? Keith? Roderick? 
You, Papa? Or maybe it was
zero ghosts…and one stray cat.

—❤️Your Abecedarian Daughter