Ad alpha Q - Z - From Great Wits to Madness

Q

Curious and quizzical

the scourge of scrabble

Rare and exotic as a giant squid

Quicker and more quixotic

than a K

though they have much in common

Quaint on occasion

Queasy under certain conditions

form an orderly one

if you would gain admission

In application you are one of the few

we treat with care

and ignore at our peril

Quarrels will often ensue

at the speed of quarks

and prolonged as quasars

long let you go on doing what you do

unloved unrequited

Q

R

Unafraid of resistance

or friction you roll

off the tongue as sharp as any razor can

you revive and revitalize

you run

unafraid as well to retreat or rout

to recount and recover

the rhyme and the reason

you bring the drones out

to frighten another day

or way of saying it

you rumble

over mountain ranges

and trickle through streams

without you it would not be possible

to hear the children’s screams

nor perceive the riot

of colour and the prettiness of flowers

you drag us through the hours

of utterance and rubbish

you rent the curtain

you reappear with a flourish

you disappear and then there you are

like a magic carpet

you coily rope

you star

you R

S

Safe as a nest of snakes

at the centre of the system

you start so many sentences

despite being percussive

still you are soft

and slither your way to the fist and last

of so many of your brothers

and sisters’ place

in the tomes and tablets

since ancient times

You are often latest to arrive

a guest

elusive as a mist but perceptible

as a surprise blast

when you choose

you wrap yourself around other sounds

in fits and starts or smooth

as a silky shroud

Your warning signal is a menacing hiss

your welcome a passionate kiss

you above all we would miss

you are possibly the best

despite the shape of your mess

you are a beast and a saint

certainty and a guess

you are slick and

always around

save me a space in the sky

when you ascend

from malice to bliss

make me a funny face

my squiggle and scribble/ my sexy

S

T

More contempt than sultriness attaches to you

You tear the air when you trumpet

yourself and announce your tips

to trip up the pantheon

Only in combination with others

begrudgingly given

softens

your tough exterior

and is tantamount to treason in your terrible mind.

You stand for tyranny and terror

Your note denotes an error

Tch people say

with all the contempt that you can muster

But

as is the case with you all we could not chat at all

without your singular contribution

And especially in our country

it is you we drink

and knock you back all day long.

No wonder you tremble

no wonder you resent

yourself

in that you resemble yourself and yourself alone

you are the tremendous

the terminal

T

U

Underneath the radar you come

like a submarine

another unbegrudgingly open vowel

less sonorous than O

but cruising deeper than I

you stand for the unknowable also

the same as me

but in a different body

You are the undercurrent informing

unassumedly

so many thoroughly essential

items of utility in an unexpected

downpour of letters

like an umbrella

at a barbecue

You are the unsung hero the underdog

a U

V

The Roman root of so many letters

like a Vesuvius to language’s Pomeii

You stand for conflict

and also love

you are the heart and start of Venus

sometimes indistinguishable

to the ear from your cousin F

it was not always so

confusing the near deaf

you mark the Valentine for me

you are dear

violent and gentle

as all things be

you are the mate of the fox

and power the centre of the baby hare

You are a sight to see

whether Vulcan bomber

or species in all their varieties

essence of values

victorious

V

W

You straddle your space like a sewn up wound

runic and druidic

but northern on the whole. The mark of Wotan

we could not be without you

least of all on Wednesdays.

There would be no more world

or words to express it in

The webs that we weave would be far less

intricate. Flipped over M

you are sonorous too a deep note of uncertainty

attaches itself to you

And where would we be without

the means to know you?

Whatever whoever wherever and whenever

we come looking for you

You arrive whistling or sometimes

whooping like the wind

There is nowhere we would have to go

before you show

ancient and honourable

with deep patience for the wild and the wicked

in man. You are the one we want

you are the one we go to.

You are the here and now

you are more than me

you are W

X

You exceed our expectations

time and again

Often you denote something extraneous

something extra something that was.

Traditionally you mark the spot

or the indeterminate

such precision and such versatility

united as one where the two strokes cross.

Name of X rays and the shorthand

for ecstasy

You take the place of two letters in fax

Latin for ten you regulate numerals

mathematics and algebraic

equations

Expert and exemplary you exhibit the sign

warding off danger

expeller of sin

Most commonly used sigil on expressives

and flags

You have got to be up there with the best

You are the simplest

you show us what’s wrong

and put the mystery in sex

you are the staves

crossed

you are original X.

Y

You are the original question

first and last to be answered

wherever you go inquiry is sure to follow

You are the cause of all causes

you could baffle the almighty

for you can’t be dismissed

on reaching the desired destination

chicanery of the Deists.

And demanding more than probability

You are the end of so many

words and a treat

to loquacity

You are the recourse of the upset

suspicious and curious

You are the terror of parents and delight

of our infancy

You put the limits on the earth and the sky

Probing and well-versed in delicacy

Science has you to thank

as much as all of philosophy

You stand alone among letters

you sound like the intellectual’s heart’s

driving majesty

You lay the ground for all truths and all lies

you are phonetically holy to all

that calls itself enquiry

You are yourself

You are Y

Z

Cousin of S with the buzz of the fly

onomatopoeic mainly

but desirous to the verb

to scrutinize is to realize

that its uses are many

from Zebra watching

to zealotry

And to dream on it is to doze

associated with laziness

a’buzzing in bed

you are zany on occasion but mark the end

of the road

to a decelerating chicane

You are the terminus

you are Z