Notes About The Poem
#28 on top new poems list as of 9/2/26
For Natasha L. Scragg's the 'Silent Letters and Oxymorons ' Poetry Contest
Contest To Determine the Letter Never Silent
The letters of the alphabet had gathered
for a conference in which they would discuss
if any among them was never silent.
It became a contest, and they all made a fuss.
The vowels first came forward to insist
there had to be at least one of their kind
that always used its voice and could be heard,
but not one matching that description could they find.
“A” was often silent when it was teamed
with letter “E” in words like “bread” or “read”
and letter “E” showed silence all the time
when sitting at a word’s end such as “cede.”
“Surely I have voice always,” piped up O
“O, no,” the other vowels said. “Can’t you see
in “Chocolate” your middle O’s deleted
and in “People” we can only hear vowel E.”
“I” nearly won the prize for never being silent,
but it was noticed in a word or two
such as “Business” “I” was not pronounced.
They were down at last to vowel sound U.
It was noted “U” was silent
when “G” preceding it was hard as in
“Guess” or “Guide” and when teamed
with certain other letters. Not one vowel could win.
The consonants then had to prove that they
were always sounded out; however, they
had difficulty proving this because
too many words were shown in which they had no say!
Here are some examples they came up with.
“B’s” not heard in “Bomb” nor hard “C” in “Science.
“D’s” silent in compound words like “Sandwich”
or in front of “G” like when “Judge” is seen.
Letter F nearly won the contest
until somebody mentioned there was the word
“fifth” in which the middle F wasn’t said
and “G” inside a word like “Rough” is likewise unheard.
“H” completely lost out. In so many cases,
“H” is not pronounced at all.
“J” came close to winning till “Marijuana”
was cooked up. “No fair,” “J” began to bawl.
Right before letter N, “K” is always silent.
That cut out poor “K” like a knife.
“L” gets skipped a lot in “Talk,” “Should” and “Calm”
M and N also were met with strife.
Unsounded M occurs but rarely in front of a few words
such as “Mneme,” and “N” after “M” as in “Condemn.”
In words like “Raspberry” or “Pneumonia,” P’s a silent partner.
Annoyance was getting to all the letters by then.
“R” could have won but it gets dropped too often
in many English dialects in words like “Car” or “Feather.”
Poor Q got disqualified because it’s represented
by two consonants, K and W together.
As both a vowel and consonant, “Y” didn’t get counted.
And almost always Y’s part of a pair.
“S” got counted out because of “Island” and “debris.”
“Ballet” ruined “T,” who complained the contest was not fair.
“There is not one of us completely silent,”
they screamed. “X” is out because of “Faux.”
“W” is out for “Write” or “Wrong!”
Not one of us can win. Home we go.
Then came a voice from the back. It shouted
“Victory is mine. This contest you can’t quit.
I’m “V” and never am I silent!
Even AI says so. Go on and google it!!
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