Poetry Friday--"Abecedarian"

In writing an abecedarian for Michelle's September TLD challenge (she's featuring all the contributions today), the major stumbling-block for me was to find something for the letters Q and X. In most ABC books Q is usually satisfied by "Queen" or "Quilt," while X often is represented by "X marks the spot," "X-ray," or some word that begins with "eX" rather than X. I always think of using an eX word as cheating. Of course, there's really not a whole lot of words beside xylophone that someone would recognize. I got to thinking a bit more and came up with a solution--plain old X. Unfortunately, X likes being the center of attention! Here's my poem with a slightly tweaked illustration taken from an old book titled, The Pirate's Pocket Book, by Dion Clayton Calthrop.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

Abecedarian: An Xcellent Xcuse to Xpound

Ask me the goal. (I will xplain.)
Berate me for pursuing it. (I will xpand my argument.)
Celebrate if I achieve it. (...I'll be so xcited!)
Don't smirk, giggle, or
Emit guffaws. (Xempt yourself from such inanities!)
Frown not, either. (You will be xpelled!)
Give me your complete attention. (No xpense other than time is required.)
Hear me! (Let the xplications begin!)
I (me, on xhibit for all to see, and, judge)
Just came up with this brilliant, but slightly
Kooky idea of
Lavishly and lovingly lauding (okay, xceedingly hyperbolic) a
Minor (xcruciatingly so),
Neglected (xhaustingly so), letter, which is
Overpowered constantly by a certain vowel.
Peculiarly xtroverted, this cruciform marks spots and is
Quintessential to communication, yet is
Relegated to playing second fiddle to the xcessively bloviated letter E!
Surely
This cannot go
Undenied or unquestioned! (Xposure is necessary!)
Verily,
We must embrace the letter X. (And render xtraneous vowels xtinct.)
X! All by its lonesome self--no
Yielding to the call of that xtra E.
Zip, nada, nothing, but X! The xceptional letter.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Laura is hosting the Round-Up today at Writing the World for Kids--she's waiting for you!