Saturday, September 1, 2007

ABC's

Okay, Slouching Mom put down a challenge, and I have attempted to take it up. The challenge was to write a poem with one word for each letter of the alphabet. At first, I thought I was not up to the task, but on my morning walk today came up with the following (and yes, I cheated for "X").

The Climb

After being crushed,
darkness envelopes.
Fear grips.
Hope invisible.
Just knowing,
life matters.
New openness,
praying quietly,
reaching, staggering
toward understanding.
Voices whisper,
x-hale...
your Zenith.

For examples of other ABC poems, far better than mine- check out the link above to Slouching Mom.

13 comments:

Beruriah said...

Wow, Lori. That's a great poem. I'm too intimidated by the challenge.....

slouching mom said...

Nice job, Lori! I've linked it.

Monica said...

Wow! I feel like this poem is about my life. This really moved me in a way few things have lately. I'm printing it out to tape to my wall at work.

Kyla said...

Great! This is one challenge I am thoroughly enjoying as it makes the rounds.

Julia said...

Very, very nice, Lori. I think that cheating bit is OK, especially since the graphic representation of that word the way you have it somehow seems very fitting for the poem.

The little bit of time by ourselves sure does wonders, doesn't it? I came up with most of mine today while getting ready for and taking a shower. :)

Joy, of course said...

Lori-I think this is absolutely phenomenal. It makes mine look like it was done by a 4th grader. I wouldn't even have noticed that all the letters are consecutive, it flows so naturally. You are very gifted in this manner of expression. And I'm not just saying that because we used the same last two words. :)

"praying quietly, reaching, staggering toward understanding."

Gorgeous. I feel this everyday in some ways.

thirtysomething said...

Wow. Very good poem. You definitely lived up to the challenge (which I have yet to get the guts to try)!

meg said...

These poems are amazing. I just came from reading Julia's entry and I love that they are all so different--but all really well done.

Magpie said...

That's terrific!

niobe said...

Joy of Course is absolutely right. The words do sound so natural and unforced. I find that's one of the hardest things to do -- to conceal how hard it was to accomplish something and make it look easy and effortless. You've certainly done that here.

Bon said...

wow, Lori...exhale indeed. no matter how you spell it, this did come off as natural and effortless and still managed to capture the feeling of one of the hardest processes i've ever been through.

lovely.

Lori said...

Wow... thanks all. I am incredibly humbled by your compliments. I hate to say it, but perhaps it sounds fairly effortless, because it was. It really did just come to me, and I wrote it in less than 10 minutes. Sometimes, the words just come.

sophia said...

You are brilliant!