~ by Gregg Rowe ~
Moonlit lighthouse
abandoned -- padlocked:
xylophone tides
invade zephyrs --
kissing eardrums
quaffing Java
warming blood --
opening closures
diabolical ghosts:
housed forever
vacant -- unguarded
rattled nooks
silence
yesteryear
~~~~~
Author notes
Encyclopedia article (Pangram)
Pangram
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A pangram (Greek: pan gramma, "every letter") or holoalphabetic sentence is a piece of text which uses every letter of the alphabet. Most pangrams are short, usually a single sentence: the aim in devising a pangram as a word game is to be as brief as possible.
In a sense, the pangram is the opposite of the lipogram, where the aim is to omit one or more letters.
Today, pangrams are frequently used to display typefaces.
Examples
The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.
Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
Cozy lummox gives smart squid who asks for job pen.
Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz.
The five boxing wizards jump quickly.
Adjusting quiver and bow, Zompyc killed the fox.
Bright vixens jump; dozy fowl quack.
Quick wafting zephyrs vex bold Jim.
My faxed joke won a pager in the cable TV quiz show.
Oh, wet Alex, a jar, a fag! Up, disk, curve by! Man Oz, Iraq, Arizona, my Bev? Ruck's id-pug, a far Ajax, elate? Who? (also a palindrome -- this is a sentence or word that reads exactly the same forwards and backwards.)
Except here it is a poetic pangram where I used every letter of the alphabet to start the word, different from an acrostic. I just bent the rule a bit on the poem.
Written September 18th, 2004
In a list
A contest entry
- Anything Is Possible by Methadone Pretty.
400 points, ended February 22, 2005, 30 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 20 of 20
-
Excellent write, liked the flavor and the way your flow added life and your words added feeling, deep poem, with well described images created before my eyes, beautiful poem.
-
aaaah clever idea with the whole big word thing bout the letters
tis kewl 
me likes tis kinda random...but thats gooooooooood...anyhoo...good luck in contest
xxelmojonesxx
-
Thanks I looked it up too. That seems very hard to do.
-
I can see the moon, full and reflecting off of the walls of the lighthouse. Bathing all around it in that light blue glow.
Can hear the waves, and as crazy as it sounds, practically feel the mist. Makes me shiver, because it's cold, lonely and empty. THAT'S what it is...it reflects the exact things I am feeling right now. You are magic with words, Gregg, sheer magic.
Maddie -
Ah this is really great. I just don't know what type of poem this is so I really can't give too much of a critique. It is beautiful. Do you think maybe you could explain the form?
Thanks
~Destiny~ -
Your short but word-rich lines add to the empty mood that you conveyed, and your diction is absolutely magnificent. Nice read, to say the least.
-
~theheartofme~: I haven't visited this poem since I penned it in September and tonight I just re-read it and started to cry, I'm telling you these hormones or drugs I am on are driving me crazy , but I was trying to remember what made these words flow and cannot. I just sucked into the sheer beauty of reading it again. Does that sound egotistic? Gregg
-
wow. I could hear the echo of the staircase, the surf outside. the empty hollow feeling around a building no longer used for its purpose. the ghosts within ships who never made it to shore, the creak of the doors inside heavy and metal. i dont know how you keep turning out these gems but please dont stop.
-
There is an abandoned lighthouse here at White City Beach. It haunts and entices at once. This poem so reminded me of the island and it's landmark. The imagery here is engulfing, and sweeps the psyche with melodic tides of yesterday. Excellent Pangram, the best of luck in the contest!
Much Love,
Renee
-
I think you may have a prelude to a good ghost story.
Nice write. I could see the light house and feel the haunting memories.
-
~G~: Yes, I was wondering why my spell check wouldn't accept the word and discovered I had it on French Canadian instead of English Canada! ! Thank you for picking up on the error. Gregg
-
Yes, Duana is right, this is very evocative! Effective in its atmosphere of mystery in unknown memories. Well done; impact with reticence.
(One query, in your title, didn't you mean it to read 'Abandoned'?)
~ G
-
Duana: I have a feeling that my poetry has changed since I came on and especially since my operation. I am writing these really weird poems that when I go back and take a look at them I also see something different in them, and I don't say that because I write them...there's just something different seeing them up on the website and not on a white paper. Gregg
Thank you for reading these and leaving such profound comments for me to think about.
-
I am putting this in my bookmarks. This really moved me. That sounds so cliche- too bad you couldn't witness what goes on in the reader- it's a pull unlike any other poem I have read. I think really spiritual people will pick nup on it. I am going to reccommend this link to a few other poets who I think will appreciate its full value.
-
That's the pull Gregg! You just defined it for me. You said you sit in solace by the lighthouse and meditate. That is what precisely comes out in this poem. wow. I knew there was something behind it more than just words on a page. You did a really good job with this. (and I forgot to applaud last time )
-
Duana: I haven't fully realized the pull yet because I just wrote it...all I could think of was the lighthouse that sits at the waterfront four blocks from my home and its abandonment and wonder the tales it can tell of days gone by...and often I just sit in solace by this lighthouse and meditate. Thank you for this comment, because I did not know if I had pulled it off or not and you just confirmed it for me. Gregg
-
This struck me as kind of a supersized haiku, delivering a fullness of imagery with short bursts of words. And it worked jsut as well. At least for me.
-
This made me cry it was beautiful. I wonder if you realize the pull of this poem? I don't know if you meant to move the writer in the way that you did. But I LOVE lighthouses, so this was just fantastic to me.
-
Interesting piece. I like it! Intrigueing and quite original. Very good job. Hope to read more of your poems if they are all like this. Thanks for sharing
-
I'm not quite sure I understood it , but the words were beautiful. Jacki
Adding your comment:
1 - 20 of 20
4 old applause
