Alphabetical Order

For the last few years I have assigned abecedarian poems to my students.

Pronounced A-B-C-darian, it is an ancient poetic form guided by alphabetical order. Generally each line or stanza begins with the first letter of the alphabet and is followed by the successive letter, until the final letter is reached. The form was frequently used in many cultures for sacred compositions, such as prayers, hymns, and psalms.

Some 20th century abecedarians are The Gashleycrumb Tinies, by Edward Gorey, and Alligators All Around by Maurice Sendak, both of which are works my brother and sister and I enjoyed when we were teens.

For their assignment, the students are only asked to compose something beautiful: sometimes they make sense; sometimes they are thematic; sometimes they are silly and random. This year, though, like everything the kids have written during our distance learning, the images they chose are revealing.

Here is a mashup of their poems, each line sampled from a different poet:

A is for Amsterdam a city on stilts
B is for Baker's Wife, Be More Chill and Bye Bye Birdie
C is for cool mornings and warm afternoons
D is for Dad that I wish I had
E is for eeeeeeew that’s nasty
F is for fire that lights the night
G is for good boy I am a good boy
H is for hugs lots of people love hugs
I’s for igloo as cold as ice
J’s for jumpy just like mice
K is for kids who play all day
L is for llama, the one that spits
M is for masterminds (I’m talking about you!)
N is for night dark and mysterious
O is for outside where I don’t want to go
P is for pick a card, any card
Q is for quarantine
R is for the common robin, who just had her eggs in my backyard.
S is for school because I am looking forward to going back
T is for toaster strudel
U is for us, we are animals
V is for viral
W is for waltzing silently
X’s for Xmas, that makes me laugh like a silly clown!
Y’s for yorkie, a small, but feisty little dog 🐕
Z is for Zoe who writes poetry

The poems are also a prewriting activity for the May Writing Challenge which is Alphabiography-- stay tuned for more on those soon!