The Challenge for February is a riff on the English word, vessels – as in boats, containers, etc. Le défi de février est une variante du mot anglais « vessels », comme dans bateaux, conteneurs, etc.

By Lynne Ayers A few years ago I did a series of photos based on the alphabet – looking for letters hidden in plain sight in my images.  These are EL EM EN OH PEE.

By Meri Fowler

Lost Letter Warning


Words matter!
Even the letters matter. When 'she' becomes 'he',
What happens to that little 's' that is left by the wayside?
Does it hold a hobo's pack on its little curved back
And jump a train to Toledo?
Maybe it tries to muscle it's way in,
Where 'he' becomes 'she', 
And it does love to expand everything!
Pain becoming pains, fear becoming fears.
I AM a little afraid of that wandering 's',
Will it find its way into my world and pluralize?
There could be BIG trouble!
I'm not kidding!

Letters matter, sometimes more than words,
Don't take them lightly, dropping them on the side of the road
Willy-nilly, 
They are more dangerous than all the guns and bombs 
(notice how the villainous 's' sneaks in here!)
Be careful with your lost letters.
Tuck them away in a locked box 
Take them out sparingly, gently, and wisely
Then they become your weapon to change the world!
(Worlds?)

By Yvonne Callaway A colourful classroom with the beginnings of the alphabet – and wordplay – on the green board.

By Laura Peck

An nouveau
Belle brume
Céleste
Diffuse de subtiles
Effluves tout autour de la
Ferme entourée de champs
Gelés et blanchâtres.
Haletant,
Il se retourne
Juge de la distance
Kilomètres ou miles
Le chemin et ses embranchements
Mène bien là.
Nul ne distrait le marcheur
Ou la marcheuse.
Parcours initiatique ou connu
Qui,
Rêvé ou éprouvé
Signale qu’on est vivant.
Tendu, les yeux rivés sur l’humain,
Un animal sauvage observe sans bouger,
Veilleur bienveillant près d’une ancienne roue d’un
Wagon, accidentée, oubliée mais témoin.
Zone et mémoire préservées.
 
Laura Peck Jan 2025.

By Susan Irving A is for An Apple (which I ate).

I found this lovely red apple with a yellow leaf-shaped marking on the peel and just had to do its portrait before eating it. 

By Bobi Leutschaft Poitras

In 2019, I wrote a book of poems called,

A Book of ABCs
(because there aren’t enough in the world already)

I started to do a painting for each letter but got stuck there.  One day I might pick it up again and illustrate it, but for now it sits in my room and delights my grandsons once in a while. Did I enjoy writing it? You bet!

Here are a few samples:

C for Cantaloupe

My father was an antelope,
My mother was a cat,
They said it was impossible
But my folks poo-pooed that.
Within a year of married bliss
(They forced them to elope)
I came right out into the world – 
A healthy cantaloupe.

G for Gorgonzola

Gorgonzola? What could that be?
A monster from a show?
A creature from the deep, dark depths
That only children know?

It sounds like something that would make
You shake from head to knees,
But really, Gorgonzola is
A moldy kind of cheese!

J for Juice

Orange, Apple, Pear or Grape –
Juice is fabulously good!
But making juice with carrots
I just never understood.

O for Onions

If you’re happy on the outside
But want to get your way
It’s hard to look distraught enough
Your parents’ hearts to sway.

So, go to where the onions are
And grab the biggest one,
And in your closet start to peel
The layers, one by one.

Soon you’ll look as miserable
As ever you could be – 
Good luck with getting what you want
(It didn’t work for me.)

©Bobi Leutschaft Poitras, 2019

By Margaret Stewart

ALPHA-BIT! (from Artist’s point of view)

A IS  FOR   	ART
B IS FOR    	BELIEVE YOU CAN CREATE 
C IS FOR    	CANVAS
D IS FOR    	DECIDE WHAT TO PAINT
E IS FOR    	ERASER
F IS FOR    	FORGING AHEAD 
G IS FOR    	GIVE  AWAY ART
H IS FOR    	HUGE CANVAS
I IS FOR     	IMAGINE  WHAT YOU CAN PAINT
J IS FOR     	JUDGE 
K IS FOR     	KARMA 
L IS FOR     	LINE
M IS FOR    	one’s MAJOR WORKS 
N OF FOR    	NOT CORRECT COLOUR
O IS FOR    	OPEN PAINT TUBE 
P IS FOR     	PENCIL
Q IS FOR     	QUIT
R IS FOR     	RE-DO ARTWORK
S IS FOR     	SELLING ART WORK
T IS FOR     	TIME FOR CUP OF TEA 
U IS FOR     	UNIQUE ART
V IS FOR     	VIST AN ART STORE 
W IS FOR    	WISHFUL  THINKING 
X IS FOR     	XEROX THAT ART 
Y IS FOR     	YELLOW PAINT
Z  IS FOR     	ZEN MODE TO PAINT

By Rosemary Lorimer This is a revised poem written as a series of Poetic Forms and brought back to life  through the inspiration of our last “Write Thing” meeting.  A member, Barb Lehtiniemi,  read her wonderful Abecedarian Poem  and it inspired me to revisit mine.

Next Time Won’t You Sing with Me?

Aisle guard you from the middle where
Boundaries hold us back and
Cage us in disconnected
Dungeon worlds.

Ends of phrases
Fence us off and just when
Gamete patterns shadow your brow another
Hindrance squalls

Impeding integration.
Jail bars ridicule the mutinous
Knotted noose – a
Linear deviation that constricts verbose throats.

Muzzle me in mysterious
Narratives – confine me in
Obstacles and winding
Passages to freedom.

Quarantine our love so this
Restraint builds healthy
Strictures in cells now weak with
Tributary turns.

Umbilically cord me to your
Veto powered uterus so that
Webbed fringes swaddle me in
X-chromosome possibilities.

Yours truly,
Zygote.

Abecedarian Poem – Alphabet Song
Rosemary Lorimer – February 2025