This poem didn’t make the cut for my forthcoming book, so I’m dropping it here:
Adult alphabet
A is for apple, Ava and Adam;
B is for their banishment, far better than Eden.
C is for both cock and cunt, of course;
D is for doing it, i.e. intercourse.
E is for either Eileen or Ebrahim;
F is for ‘Fuck!’ when you’re lying between them.
G is for growing into your gender;
H is for hetero or homo, both can refuse that blender.
I, however, is for the self now alone;
J is for jilted; watch out, it hurts to the bone.
K is for knockers, those who beg at the door;
L is the lie that you tell to the poor.
M is for money, you can have more and more;
N is for niggardly, when you keep scores and scores.
O is for opus, the one you’ll never write some day;
P is for poetasters, they should hide theirs away.
Q is for the quandaries that adult life brings:
R for rent, S for sex, T for evermore taxing things.
U is for underworld, and it approaches fast;
V is for vitamins as you try your best to last.
W is for worldly, that stuff left behind;
X will mark your spot that no one will find.
Y is for the youth that you have surely lost;
Z is for the flies zooming round your corpse now host.
Love it.
A grown-up’s alphabet. Nice, Mr K!
Love it also
Thank you, kind readers.
Looking forward to reading your book.
Excellent. “X will mark your spot that no one will find” –eXactly.
Who decides what makes the cut and what doesn’t? Do you take suggestions from editors? #curious.
Simon, sometimes the publisher or a reader may make a comment that confirms my suspicions; sometimes on re-reading or editing the ms. you suddenly feel that a poem doesn’t quite fit. Of course, these ‘feelings’ and ‘senses’ can always be argued against or for. But in general, this poem made the general tone a bit jagged. It was noted by the publisher; I agreed.