ABC Poem: Jungle Cats
Luke Holm earned bachelor degrees in English and Philosophy from NIU. He is a middle school teacher and a creative writer.
Defining an ABC Poem
An ABC poem contains five lines. The author may begin her poem with any letter of the alphabet, but the next three lines must follow the sequence of the alphabet. The last line can be any letter.
For my poem, I used the letters J-U. The end line of each stanza is a satori line, which follows the sequence prior to J-U: G, H, and I. I thought this was clever and more of a challenge. Traditionally, ABC poems do not have to rhyme, but I wrote mine with the rhyme scheme AABBC.
Predators of the Night
Jungle cats stalk the night
Killing swiftly out of sight
Life for them is midnight quarry
Making many mothers worry
Gather your loved ones
Run and Hide
Nocturnal villain's gleaming tooth
Opens flesh to end a youth
Prowling devil makes no sound
Quiet breathing holds no bound
Hope wanes in short supply
Death Draws Near
Roars are for the cats of day
Stealing silence in a way
That jungle cats never claim
Unless it ends their stealthy game
Intense stillness
© 2017 JourneyHolm