Today I challenge you to write an abecedarian poem – a poem with a structure derived from the alphabet. There are a couple of ways of doing this. You could write a poem of 26 words, in which each word begins with a successive letter of the alphabet. You could write a poem of 26 lines, where each line begins with a successive letter. Or finally, if you’d prefer to narrow your focus, perhaps you could write a poem which focuses on a few letters, using words that repeat them.

I opted for the 26 word version.  Somehow I found myself in the garden for this wacky little poem – perhaps that’s something to do with the usefulness of flowers at the end of the alphabet!

Garden tips for birds

all birds can
dig every fertile
garden in June
kick leaf mould
near October ponds
quietly rake soil
turning up violets,
xeranthemums,
yellow zinnias.