Alphabetically speaking

(Because the alphabet is the brickwork of language)
Cave walls had ancient words scratched on them
Destined to become poetry.

Echoes of lost tongues lurk in
Fossils long predating homo sapiens,
Gorgeous, mysterious and soul touching.

Humans staked a claim on poetry —
In error I hasten to add —
Just as birds wrote theirs in the sky.

Kingdoms come and go, but humans continue to
Love the world around them. Inspiration for  
Melancholy minstrels,

Nature speaks
Of past,
Present and future in

Quadrille, haiku, villanelle, saga,
Rondeau and ballad, leaking souls from
Savagery to sonnets.

This is how we share our hopes and dreams,
Using rhythm, beat and
Voices soft and lyrical,

Windsong, tide and wingbeat,
Xylophone sounds of branch and stone,
Yearning and sharing in a

Zephyr of creativity.

Kim M. Russell, 8th January 2026

An illustration from the Book of Kells (c. 800 ce) in the Old Library of
Trinity College Dublin. 

Laura says: “Here we are at the start of another year in the Gregorian calendar, and on our dVerse Poets Pub calendar the first ‘Meeting the Bar’ prompt, which hones our critique and craft of poetry. And since we are at the beginning, putting words again to paper, then we are naturally invoking the alphabet.”

Our challenge is to write an acrostic-type poem of twenty–six lines, each line beginning with a letter of the alphabet. Our poems can include ‘Abecedarian’ or alphabet or any A word as the start of the poem; begin from Z and work backwards to A; start anywhere within the alphabet but continue sequentially through all 26; and be broken into stanzas but not as stand alone. For inspiration, Laura has shared extracts and poems by Emily Yearn, Francine Sterle and Jessica Greenbaum.

18 thoughts on “Alphabetically speaking”

  4. This was wonderful to read absolutely love where you went from ancient words to the different poetry forms. I think poetry has been around long before anyone could write it as nature is poetry in motion. Lovely poem you created.

    Echoes of lost tongues lurk – yes, I think they do…

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