Word Play (Alphabet poems-ver. 1&2)

There are three common types of alphabet poetry. We will only discuss two in this lesson.

The first one requires us to stretch our imaginations. We choose a letter and let its shape suggest an image. The noted poet e. e. cummings (famous for only use lower-case letters when he wrote) wrote this following piece about the letter `i':

who are you, little i

this is a beautiful way

One can almost see a child in the shape of `i'.

The next type of alphabet poetry can be very difficult. it involves having each word of the poem start with a different letter of the alphabet - usually in A to Z or Z to A order. The following one was done by Kismani Andrade in 4th grade:

Zachary yelled x-rays
while Valerie unkindly tore sweatsocks,
running quickly
passing objectionable nitwit money
laughing & killing;
Janet's illness hastily got funny,
especially delirious
causing beautiful amnesia

(you might want to note the `&' snuck in there to make it come out.)

For practice: write an alphabet poem using which ever version you want.

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