A Blogger Challenge: Daunting Exercise For Gamely Hobbyists...

I began soliciting ABC poems a few years ago and posting them elsewhere. I received a couple hundred of these puppies. I didn't get around to posting all of them, but since Blogger has this nifty comments feature that enables you to just submit your own ABC poem and sidestep my editing/procrastinating, I'm once again calling for ABC poems.

What makes an ABC poem:

• It has 26 words.
• The first word starts with A, the second word starts with B, the third word starts with C, if you need further instruction, forget it.
• Yeah, including the letter X.

Here's one of my ABC poems:


Book Blurbs

"A brilliant collection....deft!"--Evan Fenton, Georgetown Herald

"Inventive joyride."--Kenneth Langton Mays, Nation

"Offbeat poems. Quirky."--Rashonda Smith, Time

"Unsurpassed! Very witty."--Xavier Yates, Zuricher

David Lehman, of Best American Poetry fame, submitted terrific ABC poems, which you can read here.

Below are ABC poems from contributors:

Space Invader Abecedarian by Daniel Nester

Adagio blips charge down,
empyrean, fatal, gargantuan,

hamstrung. Insatiable joystick killers!
Loggerhead Martians, no

other protagonist quashes robots,
saucers, three-handed, under

valkyries. We X you,
zestfully.

Recipe for a Nation by Jen Benka

authority between countries
divide enough for god
hastily interpret justice
keep liberty muted
nullify oppressed people
quell rebellious states
tempt unanimous voices
wake xenophobic yearnings--zap.

Alphabet Seduction by Shanna Compton

Arms, breasts, chest.
Downy ears.
Fine golden hairs in juice.
Knees, lips, mouths.
No. Okay. Please.
Quick. Right. Stop.
There. Uh. Vavoom.
Whoa. X-rated!
Yes.
ZZZZ.

A breeze... by Yuko Otomo

A breeze
chimes desires,
enhancing
flickering
grace.
Haunting
impressions
jar, kneading
love.
Minding no one
particular, quiet roses
stand tall
under vowing
willows.

X-roads
yield

zero.

Dreamy by Christi DiGangi

Australia beckons Christi DiGangi.
Everyone's friendly, garrulous, happy.
I'd joyfully kiss lovely men.
Normal: overrated.
Peculiar: quietly ravishing.
Stunning Tasmanians unwind voluptuous women.
X-rated, yummy, zestful.

ABC by Bob Hart

Adolescent brigands
can devise everything for gain.
Having injured just klans
leaving mayhem
nervelessly overrunning patient quiescence
ruthlessly sowing trouble
until virtue wishes--xenophobically--
youth zippered.

Post-War Inquiry by Adam Coti

Ask Bush:

Can destruction ever
foster goodwill?

Helping Iraqis justifies
killing lawful masses?

Not one person questioned
Rumsfeld's scare tactics?

Unanswered verses.

With Xerxes your zealotry.