I wrote my first abecedarian poem Instability Report to David’s W3 Poetry Prompt #200 where the Poet of the Week is Christine Bialczak.
Click here to read the full prompt guidelines
Christine’s prompt: Alphabetic poetry
Write an alphabet poem using one of the following two structures:
Option 1 — 26 words, A–Z once each (Any order)
Write a poem of exactly 26 words.
- Each word must begin with a different letter of the alphabet.
- All 26 letters (A–Z) must be used exactly once.
- The letters may appear in any order.
- No repeated initial letters.
Option 2 — A–Z in order by line
Write a poem with 26 lines, where the first word of each line begins with the next letter of the alphabet in order: A, B, C … through Z.
- Maintain thematic or narrative coherence.
I’ve published two versions of my first attempt at an abecedarian poem. One follows the rules closely, while the other wanders from them a little.
Version B of my poem uses the constraint‑based form: a 26‑word abecedarian in which each word begins with a different letter of the alphabet, A through Z, used once and only once, in no fixed order.
Version A repeats the letters a, e, w, and m in a few places, which means it isn’t a pure abecedarian poem, though it was certainly shaped by the constraints of the form. I’ve published it because I prefer its strangeness to the more straightforward comic whimsy of Version B. I’ve enjoyed how the strictures of the form has pushed me to write a touch stranger than usual.
Instability Report
Version A
X-rays on my table
showing everything very unstable
lungs were cocoons
eyes bluish half-moons
pink zits dancing in junkets—
geriatric
farmers’
markets—
young knights
wearing white armours—
nothing’s quite right,
alright.
—Lesley Scoble, February 2026
Audio — Instability Report (Version A)
Narrated by me.
Here is the version that sticks to the abecedarian rules (I hope!). There’s no audio for Version B, and its title is Diagnostic Oddities.
Diagnostic Oddities
X-rays on my table
showing I’m very unstable
lungs were cocoons
eyes bluish half-moons
pink zits dancing jazz—
gyrating pizzazz
a yodelling knight;
nothing’s quite right
—Lesley Scoble, February 2026
THANK YOU
My thanks as always, to David Bogomolny, for hosting his inspirational poetry platform.
My thanks to Christine for her interesting abecedarian prompt.
And my thanks to you, dear reader, for spending time with me.
LesleyScoble.com 
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