Since this poem was my first attempt at an abecedarian, I asked my peers at Writers Guild for their assessment of image and cadence–did the content of the poem clash with its form? Since each line had to start with the subsequent letter of the alphabet, I was worried that certain word choices and line breaks, if read aloud, would sound unnatural. With Guild as a sounding board, however, each image flowed so well together that folks didn’t notice the form at all!
Chris Carlozo is, wow, a senior at DePaul University! An avid Didion-esque journal-keeper, their poetry and creative nonfiction takes root in the goings-on of Irving Park Road. Featured in Issue 41 of Crook & Folly, their writing won an award for Best CNF submission. They plan on posthumously haunting either Ritual Coffeehouse or Hexe Coffee Co…wherever the baristas most feel like chatting up ghosts.