Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky read his work on the local PBS outlet, KETC in St. Louis, Channel 9, on September 26th, 1999. He described his inspiration for the "ABC" poem he recited in the series.
Like Pinsky, the inspiration for my variation of the ABC verses came to me as a phrase out of the blue. About two years ago I was driving up a ramp to a highway and I nearly drove off the road trying to find a scrap of paper in the car to jot down the first eight words.
Also, like him, I found it much more difficult to complete the exercise meaningfully in exactly 26 words, one word for each letter of the alphabet, in alphabetic sequence. Would anyone else care to try their hand at this form? Pinsky fudged a little with X, and so do I. In these verses I use the Greek for Christ (Chi, rho, iota, sigma, tau, omicron, sigma). The symbol for Chi is not really an X but it suits the typographical pattern. Unfortunately I was unable to format the Greek letters for this forum entry so I use "Xristos," an instance of poetic license for which I ask forgiveness.
Please respect my authorship of this variation. I think this posting constitutes publication, and I will be pleased to claim ownership of copyright, if PBS or the owners of this Website would graciously permit.
Dove-tailing Pinsky's work on the ABC's with his work on "From the Childhood of Jesus" is my offering:
The ABC's of Christianity
By Larry Stephey
A
Baby
Came
Down
Earthward
From
God's
Heaven.
Immortal
Jesus
Keeps
Loving
Mankind.
Now
Our
Prayers
Quietly
Renounce
Sin.
The
Ultimate
Victory
With
Xristos
Yields
Zeal.
| ABC's | Derek | Fri Aug 17 17:39:05 US/Eastern 2001 |