‘Twas the night before No-L Day, and all through everywhere in the room, words were stirring—careful cautious to avoid one tiny letter that normally many a time sneaks into every holiday festivity tune. (Oh well! I know No-L had the L!)

So December 25th also has a quirky word-y celebration – it is No-L Day (got it!) and so of course, in today’s Poetic Sundays prompt, I am inviting you all to bend language for fun: a No-L Day challenge! Your mission: write a poem or a few lines without using the letter L, while inventing new ways to describe a candle, silence, a fireplace, or the holidays! Or have a little bit of fun with it.

Ready to dive in? Let’s meet the No-L.

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Poetic Sundays: A itt-e Ho-iday Fun with the No-L

As I mentioned earlier, we’re attempting a lipogram this week, where our only constraint is writing without the letter L, all in celebration of the upcoming No-L Day!

How to Write the No-L

1. The poem contains no letter “L”
2. Exactly 25 words (for the 25th).
3. Must reference absence, loss, or silence without naming them directly. Or for a playful, defiant, or mischievous tone, write a poem where every line feels like it wants a word with a L but survives without it
4. Final word must be a verb (or not!)

The No-L Cheat Sheet

A handy swap list for when your brain keeps reaching for forbidden sounds

Things that usually sneak in an “L”:

• Candle → wax spark · wick fire · night torch · wax star
• Light → glow · sheen · spark · beam
• Silence → hush · mute air · non-sound
• Fireplace → hearth · brick heat · ember nook
• Holiday → feast day · winter joy · warm pause
• Glow → shine · gleam (nope — has an L!) → sheen
• Still → calm · quiet · unmoved
• Calm → peace · ease · rest

Quick tricks:

• Swap nouns → actions (burn, drift, warm, fade)
• Use kennings (“wax spark” or “tapering torch” instead of “candlelight”).
• Keep it short and visual, so your 25-word poem still flows naturally.

My Attempts

Bare Box Dreams
The postbox stands empty.
No paper joy today.
It waits, patient, wide-mouthed,
for soft sounds, sweet notes—
warm words to drop, to stay, to mean.
~ Vidya Tirupattur @ LadyInReadWrites

Spark and Sprite
Wax sticks burn bright in dim hush.
Sprites hide on hearth-frames.
Fire snaps, sparks dance.
No joy drops yet,
It winks, waits, teases, and sparks!
~ Vidya Tirupattur @ LadyInReadWrites

And this one is an L-less version (my attempt) to show this form:

Dashing through the snow,
in a one-horse open ride.
O’er the farms we go,
grinning through the way.
chimes on the back-end ring,
making spirits bright—
what fun it is to ride and sing
a carting song tonight!
Oh ringing chimes, dinging chimes
ringing through the way..
….

Recently

On My Blog and On the Homefront

My recent posts (since the last scribblings, as always)

• Sunday Scribblings #239: Serenading Culture with the Siharfi
• Elf on the Shelf (The Bookshelf!): Easy Elf + Book Ideas
• Winter Reading with Jane Austen: 10 Great Picks for Kids

Upcoming

On My Blog and On the Homefront

Not sure.. but plans have changed due to various reasons, so we are staying home instead of being elsewhere, and I know all of us would be happy either way. But with rains on the forecast for the whole week, we will have to improvise. Maybe binge-watching and board games? Any suggestions?

Celebrations

Literary Celebrations (close-to-it also!)

• Literary birthdays this week include:  Percival Everett, Mariko Tamaki, and Jerry Pinkney on Dec 22nd; Carol Ann Duffy on the 23rd; Mary Higgins Clark and Stephanie Meyer on Dec 24; David Sedaris and Henry Miller on 26th Dec; Dec 27th is to celebrate Elizabeth Smart; the 28th of December is Mortimer J. Adler
• The 25th is A’Phabet Day or No “L” Day
• Followed by National Thank You Note Day on December 26. Check out this previous post for tips

Foodie Celebrations

• The 22nd observes National Date Nut Bread Day and it is also National Cookie Exchange Day.
• Then it is National Pfeffernusse Day on Dec 23rd
• Up next, Dec 24th brings with it National Eggnog Day
• followed by National Pumpkin Pie Day on the 25th of December
• The 26th is National Candy Cane Day!
• While Dec 27th is National Fruitcake Day
• To end the week, we have National Chocolate Candy Day on the 28th of December

Other Celebrations and Observations

• The 22nd is Mathematics Day in honor of Srinivasan Ramanujan’s birthday
• While it is Kramer’s Festivus on the 23rd of December, as well as National Christmas Movie Marathon Day. Check out this post and this one as well for a whole lot of suggestions for the family
• The 24th is Christmas Eve and also apparently Last-Minute Shopper’s Day!
• National Whiner’s Day is on the 26th along with Day of Goodwill
• It is time to celebrate National Make Cut-Out Snowflakes Day on the 27th
• National Short Film Day, National Card Playing Day, National Call a Friend Day, and Pledge of Allegiance Day on the 28th end the week for us

Wrapped Up: My Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, you have reached the end of this Sunday Scribblings. As always, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions about this post. And, of course, do let me know if you plan to celebrate any of these mentioned celebrations this coming week/month?

If you happen to write a little (oops, a tiny) poem with no-you-know-what-I-mean, then share it here in the comments so I can enjoy it too!

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon.