Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

Sestina

Sestina

I am so awed by WdC poets and writers! No kidding. I just finished sending in the reviews for the sestina contest. Since sestina is a difficult form, probably my expectations were too low. Our poets put my expectations to shame. Now I have a dilemma at hand: choosing who wins. I am so stumped. I think anyone whose item was on the qualified list won.

Here is a sestina by Elizabeth Bishop that the entire creative-writing world uses as an example. As far as I can tell, our poets did just as well or almost as well.

Sestina by Elizabeth Bishop

September rain falls on the house.
In the failing light, the old grandmother
sits in the kitchen with the child
beside the Little Marvel Stove,
reading the jokes from the almanac,
laughing and talking to hide her tears.

She thinks that her equinoctial tears
and the rain that beats on the roof of the house
were both foretold by the almanac,
but only known to a grandmother.
The iron kettle sings on the stove.
She cuts some bread and says to the child,

It's time for tea now; but the child
is watching the teakettle's small hard tears
dance like mad on the hot black stove,
the way the rain must dance on the house.
Tidying up, the old grandmother
hangs up the clever almanac

on its string. Birdlike, the almanac
hovers half open above the child,
hovers above the old grandmother
and her teacup full of dark brown tears.
She shivers and says she thinks the house
feels chilly, and puts more wood in the stove.

It was to be, says the Marvel Stove.
I know what I know, says the almanac.
With crayons the child draws a rigid house
and a winding pathway. Then the child
puts in a man with buttons like tears
and shows it proudly to the grandmother.

But secretly, while the grandmother
busies herself about the stove,
the little moons fall down like tears
from between the pages of the almanac
into the flower bed the child
has carefully placed in the front of the house.

Time to plant tears, says the almanac.
The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove
and the child draws another inscrutable house.

If anyone is interested, to write a sestina, first you need to choose six words. Since these words will be repeated at the end of the lines, it is a good idea to choose words that can be used both as nouns and verbs and maybe adjectives, too. Then, also, these words have to fit the theme and topic of the poem.

Then, if you wish, though it is not required, you might add a certain syllable count, blank verse, etc., but the form is difficult enough as it is. I am a free verse person, so I wouldn't mess with tougher mathematical things.

39 lines altogether. Good luck if you wish to try

Here is the grid for the words.

Stanza 1:
A
B
C
D
E
F

Stanza 2
F
A
E
B
D
C

Stanza 3
C
F
D
A
B
E

Stanza 4
E
C
B
F
A
D

Stanza 5
D
E
A
C
F
B

Stanza 6
B
D
F
E
C
A

Tercet or Envoy
Line 1 AB
Line 2 CD
Line 3 EF