In English 203, we read through one of Percival Everett’s poem called, “Zulus.” He utilized alphabetical order as the basis of the poem’s structure providing a sense of organization. Each page contained a single different letter to which he would assemble the poem around. In class, each student was instructed to construct his or her own poems (only A-D) using the alphabetical structure used by Everett. I loved this assignment because in high school I used adore writing poems in my spare time. This activity always relaxed me, especially when I was stressed with school or with family. When everyone finished writing their small poems and read them out loud, I realized something. Everyone had interpreted the prompt in a different way and wrote according to what they believed what needed to be done. For example, one of my groupmates wrote their poem in autumn, while another based it on the literary work, Hamlet. For my poem, I based it around my grandmother.
A is for always.
For she is restless in her contributions to love.
Family placed above all, even herself.
Small yet ever so sweet like candy.
Sacrifice was all she knew as a child,
As fought her way past War World II.
A is for Amazing,
As she will always be my number one.
B is for beauty,
Which age has not taken away.
Eyes filled with the fires of life.
Slowed with time, but never beaten.
B is for bravery,
A trait of hers that knows no bounds.
C is for casual,
Comfort before fashion when it comes to clothes.
C is for Christina,
Who would risk everything for her grandmother.
D is for death
How it is always around the corner,
Ever so daunting and overwhelming.
The family prays for the grim reaper to go away.
D is for Dawn,
Which she will be able to see for another day.