Astral Gibbon Cub

(for National Scrabble Day)

I'm stuck in a game of Scrabble
and I don't know how to get out!
The game just isn't going well
and so I'm scrabbling about,
trying to find a winning word
without committing fouls,
but that is pretty hard to do
because I've got no vowels!
Do you think VRCX would do,
or FXGG would count?
I know that they're not valid words,
but they'd score a nice amount!
Wait - there are two-letter words
that also score quite well.
Maybe EX or XI or XU
will get me out of this hell.
Oh no. Just when I thought that things
could not get any worse,
I've only gone and picked the Q;
oh consonants, disperse!
Right, that's it... now I'm chucking in
and scoring big fat zero.
I have no U, but that's OK,
these words could be my hero:
there's qaid, qat, qin, faqir and qoph;
the last one is a saviour,
to help me catch up quite a bit;
such devious behaviour!
Oh yes! I've now got AEINRST
which is THE best combination,
for making loads of bingos
and for point accumulation.
So,NASTIER, STAINER, RETAINS
are there, and plenty more,
like ANTSIER, RETINAS,RATINES
to help me with my score.
Well, NOW the game is looking up
and feeling more like fun.
And, suddenly, no letters left—
I've only gone and won!!