oN transformatioN

Never forget the fella

who sits after M, before O,

without him, my friend, you’d be fried,

all things nice would feel like ice: cold.

Happy sand would be sad,

every band would be bad,

and bananas, like sheep, 

simply baaa.

So respect that letter,

just one past halfway,

who keeps windows from being widows,

everywhere, everyday.

Q it UP!

Q is a letter
that sounds like a word
spelled without it:
c-u-e,

That looks like an O
with a little pigtail
hanging down from
its little Q booty.

Q rarely is seen
without U by its side
(but don’t make a big deal,
Q, too, has its pride)

A dependent letter
with an independent mind
is Q.

great Separator

S appears crooked
but it’s a straight line
that separates many and one:

The tall fence between
a taste and a lot
of cookies or pieces of gum.

Take a singular thing,
tack to it one S,
and instantly there is more of it ;

That’s how this two-turned
pluralizer divides
with skill that most barriers covet.

(Drawing: PaC) (Drawing: PaC)

POOR U

Whenever you’re feeling
unsure what to do

Then you know what it’s like
every day to be U

Who starts out one way
then turns ‘round halfway through,

no letter’s less decisive
or, maybe, more confused.

Perhaps U’s resemblance
to a horseshoe

Dragged U through the mud
so U’s ego got bruised.

And if U didn’t have
spare ego to lose,

Then U probably grew sheepish.
Imagine, wouldn’t you?

So if one day self-doubt
jams you up with the blues,

Think how hard it would be
if your mirror showed U.

Hhhooray!

H is a letter that sounds like a word
spelled a-t-c-h-e,
that looks like one rung on the alphabet ladder
that stretches from A to Z.

H can give a lift
even when h is small,
and resembles
a ladderback chair,

So when H appears
Instead of “Ho-hum,”
Think,
“A humble helping hero is here!”

makE no mistakE

A-I-O and-U agree
in their eternal love for E,
that vitamin that helps the vowels
sound like who they be.

When a mat needs a mate
or a lobe comes from a lob,
when the slim become slime
that’s ol’ E on the job.

Who can make a rat rate?
can make a shin shine?
can make a hug huge?
or make a fin fine?

E looks like an afterthought
tacked there on the tail
but without E on occasion
the vowels self-esteem might fail.

So when tin must be a tine
When a lug must luge
When a pin need be pine
just one letter will do.

EvidEncE – Except in baseball, Es are tremendously helpful.

Mmm, Mmm. Good.

M is the camel of letters
recognizable for its two humps.
Without them both, m would be n,
as in neasles,
conputer,
and nunps.

M comfortably takes on the task
of being the milestone
halfway on the road
through Alphabetowne
‘tween A’s aura and the Z-zone.

And though M sounds like
M starts with an e
eh-hem
that isn’t the case.

M is his own man:
A pivotal camel shaped pal
Midway through the race.

M_edit

DON’T LOOK CLOSE:  Look far.  And you May just see an M in this iMage from
the Mellow Mushroom, Oak Street, New Orleans.  YuMM.