abdomen haiku and limerick - poems 51 and 52

arthropod segments

head, thorax, and abdomen

home of the stinger

for abdomen is garbled Greek

and for those who knowledge seek

know the fondness scholars bold

had for the languages of old

even for tongues they could not speak

abbey haiku and limerick - poems 49 and 50

silent house of god

many monks in prayer are awed

from just the stained glass

Vikings looted an abbey Hibernian

and the monk who was most learned in

Latin mourned the stolen Book of Kells

But from Norse hands it fell 

And now we can tell the tale recorded therein

abalone haiku and limerick - poems 45 and 46

a marine mollusk

taken from cold, autumn seas

a dinner delight

a mollusk from the sea

known as the abalone

has a flat spiral shell

and by that you can tell

whether to take or leave it be 

abattoir haiku and limerick - poems 47 and 48

an abattoir grim

for the cattle that go in 

a job most macabre 

from a grisly abattoir comes our beef

and the doomed, fatted cattle come to grief

but later when I dine 

on a juicy steak so fine

vegetarians are beyond belief

abacus haiku and limerick - poems 43 and 44

still used in Asia

an ancient adding machine

first calculator

though the computer is most fabulous

there is plain beauty in the abacus

for wooden rods and beads

are all that one needs

to reckon even sums tremendous

aardvark haiku and limerick - poems 41 and 42

note: here begin my alphabetical poems

I don't think I can write a poem about every word in my dictionary (65,000 entries) but I will try.

burrowing mammal

eater of ants and termites

nature's pest control

the aardvark from Africa south

has a most unusual mouth 

with a tongue long and sticky

it can afford to be picky

and prefers ant over louse

hypocrisy haiku and limerick - poems 39 and 40

drab hypocrisy

lubricates the social gears

of dark winter nights

a fine upstanding young hypocrite

took a sip from a glass with filth in it

he made not a sound

as he swallowed it down

and then praised the host for his grace and wit