Abecedarian
We use the term Abecedarian to refer to a poem somehow constrained by alphabetic order. If the entire alphabet is used, an Abecedarian poem is a Pangram, and the form is also Progressive. Abecedarian poetics are recommended as a Metaform.
Source
Traditional
Examples
Walter Abish's novel Alphabetic Africa is an ambitious example. New York Primer, by Rudolf Modley. Innumerable children's books! .Ella Minnow Pea and Christian Bok's Eunoia qualify.
Here's a Retrograde by an old colleague:
Zero Yokum, xylophonist, was virtually uneducated
thought Schoenberg ridiculous
quoted Pleasance on "new music"
loved Katelby
jeered Ives
hated Ginastera
found even Debussey's chords blatantly avant-garde
—Truman Hayes
Works that use this form
- Analyzing Haze
- New Order Poem
- Newspoem 17 March 1999: Oh! John Don’t Go to Kosovo
- University High Spring 1995
- Vanilla Vagina Utopia
- Will My Data Spy On Me
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