‘AB’, or: Negative

Above an abyssal abime 
abide abeles; and abelmosks 
abound, abloom, ablush, abutted by 
abandoned aboriginal abbey, absent 
absconded abbots. 

An ablegate abroad abreacts absorbedly; 
aborted aborning abracadabras are 
abomas abiding about 
his abdomen. 

Aboulia abidingly absterged; 
abhorrent abuses absolved, ablins, 
in ablutions of absinthe. 

61 thoughts on “‘AB’, or: Negative”

1. You just had to do that, didn’t you, mate? Employing words I’ve never encountered before. Oh, the humiliation for this poor old English teacher! A numpty of a man playing at maturity! … You know, I was just looking at your blog again, that opening verse about your father. And words. The importance of language. And it reminded me how much of my life I have depended on language to mediate thought and experience. And feeling. I wonder how much of your life has been like this as well.

   1. George, regarding the words you’ve never encountered before, you should know that I also had to find these words – it’s not that I necessarily knew them before writing this poem!

      Regarding language…. something I’ve been thinking about is how I feel that I use language to avoid reality – even when I’m writing about “reality” – it’s like I’m creating my own… and limiting it to my stanzas or paragraphs. And then – when it’s written… is what I’ve written the actual reality? Do I get a pass for the past because I’ve described it? Is it neatly packaged for me so that I can now move on? Or am I just fooling myself – deliberately – into feeling that way?

      -David

      1. I wouldn’t quite say you get a pass for it, my friend. I think it is one of the most reasonable things a man may do in his struggle to understand–to come to terms–with the past. To think and to write–to use words to find a truth in it that validly expresses the experience, and in a way that gives us strength to say, yes, now that is a part of me–losing my mother will remain an integral part of me. And in the writing of her, I celebrate our lives together before she was gone. And her passing becomes, however sorrowful, known and accepted. There are many cultures in the world who employ what might be called magic in order to feel a sense of control over an otherwise unpredictable and often threatening world. I write. And in so doing, I feel less the threat, and more the knowing. Which is a great comfort to me.
         Sorry, I am blethering on again. I hope I am making sense to you, David. I find it easy to trust that you do understand me, even if I do not always understand myself. I am glad to have met you, mate.

         1. in so doing, I feel less the threat, and more the knowing.

            That is really lovely, George – it somewhat moves me to poetry.

            I think I “get” what you’re saying. Blether on, my friend 😀

            Yours,
            David

2. Absolutely fascinating 🤩🤩

   1. thanks so much 🙂 – this was a fun one for me!

3. Great verse David. Clever! Google ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ and meet the Ad Fab duo from UK television!

   1. Thanks, Ashley! 🙂

4. haha what! how! this is so unreal. You’ve played with “abide” so well!

   1. It was spontaneous, TBH 🙂

5. Wow! That was so well crafted! Loved the word play too!

   1. I won’t lie – I had fun with this one 🙂

      And because I was limited to a particular set of words, I honestly didn’t know how it would come out at the end!

6. Alexander (your name, yes?) I had to flip back and forth between the online dictionary and your “puzzle poem” to understand it. It was fun to do it, and I’m impressed with your vocabulary and the depth of the poem! Absinthe makes a good cure-all for just about everything 😉

   1. Hi! My first name is David – you can feel free to use it 🙂 (‘ben Alexander’ means ‘son of Alexander’ in Hebrew)

      Don’t be too impressed with my vocabulary – I had to search online for many of these words! It was lots of fun 🙂

      1. Aha! Will try to remember, David. Writing poetry and looking for the right words is a lot of fun. You picked some heavy words.

         1. ❤

7. I don’t know how you managed to line up all those ‘ab’s and not only make them make sense but also sound good – but you did!

   1. Thanks so much, Ingrid – I just found this comment in my spam folder… no idea why, but I’m glad I found it!

      ❤

8. What a 6- pack AB poem!!! ☺️ Learnt alot of new words!! Great work. 💐❤️

   1. 💚💪📚