I love the abecedarian form—it offers so many possibilities. Although a very old form that can be found in religious texts, the abecedarian with its lines, or even stanzas, arranged in alphabetically, has fabulous modern examples, such as Natalie Diaz’s “Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination of Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation of a Wild Indian Rezervation.”

Your first prompt is to write your own abecedarian. Abecedarians are often relegated to poems for children, but they certainly can have dark themes and complex structures. Nor do they need to be acrostics, as Laura Kolbe demonstrates in her “Buried Abecedarian for Intensive Care.”

The second prompt is to explain a medical procedure or to define a related set of medical or scientific terms. Use repetition and play with the structure. See what happens when you use quatrains or couplets and then compare to a single stanza or a prose poem. What works best for you and why?

For a third prompt, use the line “when you hope the machine lied” for a ghostline. Or perhaps use another of my favorites “when the gauze smells like gin and tonic” or one that resonates with you.

Good luck writing!