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