THE LETTER Q

[John Walton]

THE LETTER Q

In the land of A to Z

There lived the letter Q.

He made the others stand in line

And told them what to do.

 
He liked things to be orderly.

The others had no choice

For he shouted out his orders

In a regimental voice.
 

"Let's start at the beginning.

Letters A and B and C,

stand up straight and fall in line

in front of letter D."

 
"Where are E and F and G?

They're always running late!

Overslept again, no doubt.

We haven't time to wait."

 
"Leave a gap then H and I

line up with J and K.

Hurry up! I've told you once,

we haven't got all day!"

 
"L and M and N are next,

followed by O and P.

Then myself and R, of course,

and letters S and T."

 
"Where have U and V gone now?

With W, no doubt!

Someone find them quickly, please.

I shouldn't have to shout."

 
"Here come E and F and G

with sleepy looking faces.

Twenty press-ups each of you

and then take up your places!"

 
"That leaves X and Y and Z

to join up at the rear

and I'm ready to inspect you

now that everybody's here."
 

With shoulders back, chests out,

Arms down by their side

All the letters faced the front

Their heads held high with pride.

 
So think about this poem

And never make a fuss

When standing at the checkout

Or waiting for a bus.

 
Never push or shove

Like impatient people do.

Stand in line like A to Z

And don't upset the Q!

PLEASE VISIT MY BLOG... mylifemywordsmypoetry.blogspot.com

[Brigid Briton]

John, this is fantastic! It's peppy and cute and what a great double-meaning ending. Perhaps Americans aren't quite as familiar with the British use of the word "queue" to mean line, but, if they weren't before, they are now. This really brought a smile to my face.

This would make a great children's book. Do you know an illustrator?

Brigid

P.S. BTW, let me suggest that you de-capitalize all but the first letters of the words in your titles (on this and other posts). I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but all caps means "shouting" when you're online. What you may think of as emphasis, can be interpreted as "Hey! Look at me!" by some people. Your work stands on its own, and doesn't require special attention-getting devices.

[Cory Raymond]

Hello John, I really enjoyed this. As Brigid said, it would make a great children's book, illustrated with sassy-looking letters in bright colors. It's really a super poem. Thanks for sharing it with us. (P.S. I agree with Brigid about the capital letters) CR

[John Walton]

It was never my intention to 'shout' through the use of capital letters.

I am glad you enjoyed the poem.

Re. publication and teaming up with an illustrator...I am sure it is every poets dream to have a book published but I wouldn't know where to start. I am not sure I would be able to finance it either.

Anyway, I write because I enjoy writing.

John

[Brigid Briton]

Hi John, Reilley posted a link to some really great resources about how to get published: poetry-here-and-now.proboards.com/thread/1734/poetry-published. There are a lot of free-lance illustrators available online, if you decide it might be worth a try. I understand about writing because you need to write, however, when you've got something really good, it doesn't do any harm to check out the options. Just a thought.

[Daniel Mark Extrom]

Hi John!

I just found this website/on Twitter, and joined just a few minutes ago. I'm still trying to figure it all out.  But I wanted to say your "Letter Q" was the first thing I read, and I thought it was very clever, very rhythmic, and very cute. 

Sincerely.  Daniel Mark

[John Walton]

Brigid -Thank you for taking the time to offer advice re. publication.

It is definitely something I will look in to.

Daniel - Thank you for your kind comments. Much appreciated.

John

[SweetSilverBird]

Mar 1, 2014 22:29:09 GMT -6 Daniel Mark Extrom said:

Hi John!

I just found this website/on Twitter, and joined just a few minutes ago. I'm still trying to figure it all out.

On behalf of Brigid, our Founder, I welcome you! Good to see that twitter is reaching interested poets. I hope you will make yourself comfy.

[hazelmsmith]

Well done, I love this - really made me smile.

[Fire Monkey]

This is a good poem and as has been stated, it would be a great children's book. As for publishing - you don't have to spend money to publish - yes, there are vanity presses around that will publish your works at a cost and they will tell you all the greats did it that way ... what they fail to say is that is because the publishing industry did not exist at that time, only the printing industry. Real publishers pay you to publish your book, not the other way around. Also, if you can't get it published through a conventional publisher there is the option these days of ePublishing - I haven't looked into it much but I understand you can put a book into eBook format and sell it through eBay on a shared profit basis where eBay gets a part of each sale so again, no cost to you even though it is basically self published.

[Reilley]

Terrific piece, and yes, it would make a terrific book.

I posted a reply to another thread with some info about self publishing:

poetry-here-and-now.proboards.com/thread/1081/printing-booklets

If you have any specific questions about self-publishing, I would be happy to answer them for you.

[Brigid Briton]

Hey Tim, I think you're thinking of Amazon, not ebay.

John, There are all sorts of low-cost options out there. Don't forget about us when you're famous!

[Fire Monkey]

I believe you are right Oops, sorry about that {we need a blushing smiley for moments like this}

I believe they want things in Kinder compatible format but I am not 100% sure of that so it's best to check first.

[Brigid Briton]

Uh...Tim...I think you mean Kindle, not Kinder, although for some readers, Kinder-format might be preferable. At Amazon, you can elect to go with a normal print version, Kindle version, or both.

[Fire Monkey]

See, we DO need a "blushing Smiley" - I am only aware of the matter of publishing this way because one of my daughters gets most of her reading material from self published works and has an interest in it and has suggested it to me but I have not as of yet looked into it in any detail as the book I would publish that way is not yet ready for publication so while I am aware of it I lack the details I would have if I had actually done my own research.