sestina is a poem of repetition rumored to have been created
in Providence during the 13th century. Sestinas are often
referred to as the most difficult and frustrating of all
formatted poems. When you first try to write a sestina, it
is best to outline your page and label each stanza and line.
Next, copy the labels for each end word at the end of each
line. This will help you stay organized and decrease your
disorientation and confusion as you start writing.
Make sure to pick 6 strong end words because these will
become the basis
for your entire poem. Homophones are allowed. Choosing end
words that are homophones give you more creative leeway.
The proper form for a sestina is 6 stanzas, with each stanza
being six lines in length:
Stanza 1:
Line 1
Line 2
Line
3
Line 4
Line
5
Line 6
And so
on for Stanzas
2, 3, 4, 5, and
6.
The poet chooses
6 words to be
placed at the
end of each line
and get repeated
in a specific
order throughout the remaining 5 stanzas. These end words
are given the labels A, B, C, D, E, and F in the first stanza.
The order of words in each stanza follows this format:
Stanza
1 ABCDEF
2 FAEBDC
3 CFDABE
4 ECBFAD
5 DEACFB
6 BDFECA
This format may
be confusing at
first, but can
be simplified
with a visualization:
Stanza 1:
My sister is lying eternally
bare
By orchid
frosted windows
Where two cats
wear sarcastic
smiles
A loaded
cock on the nightstand
Hiding behind eager hips
Munching lips waiting
for assistance
The end word “bare” is labeled A. “Windows” is
labeled B, and
so on:
My sister
is lying eternally
bare—>A
By
orchid frosted
windows—>B
Where two cats wear sarcastic
smiles—>C
A loaded cock on the nightstand—>D
Hiding behind eager
hips—>E
Munching lips waiting
for assistance—>F
In stanza 2 the sentences can
be different from
those in stanza
1. The same end words must be used, however, and are placed
in this order:
My father needs a stranger’s
assistance—>F
With
emotions always
bare—>A
Fingers cutting along my
hips—>E
There’s always a face in that window—>B
A yellowed tooth
under my nightstand—>D
Picture
cousins sweaty
smiles—>C
Stanza 3:
Please touch
the man who never
smiles—>C
I need a poet’s assistance—>F
To make an oak
nightstand—>D
Come into me bare—>A
Wipe the insides
on the window—>B
Clean off my hips—>E
Stanza 4:
Meet
my museum of beaten
hips—>E
A masterpiece
of forgotten smiles—>C
An American daughter waiting
by a waterfront
window—>B
Novel on feminist assistance—>F
Girls whose wombs
are warm and bare—>A
The colored
storybook on a
homemade nightstand—>D
Stanza 5:
Simple
lyrics lost in
translation now
dusty by the nightstand—>D
Foaming tongues caressing
young hips—>E
Good bowels are
bare—>A
Look in the toilet and crack a smile—>C
You used up all
my assistance—>F
Better homes, more
fertile gardens,
and cleaner windows—>B
Stanza 6:
I’ll see
through the nailed shut window—>B
And I’ll stand naked on the nightstand—>D
Jump through the
window with no
assistance—>F
With glass in my lumpy hips—>E
And smile—>C
Naked on the pavement washed bare—>A
A sestina closes with a tercet, which is 3
lines long. All
6 words are used in the tercet and are placed in this order:
Looking up at the window (B) I’ll touch my
skin and hips (E)
Who cares about that homemade nightstand (D) ; I don’t
care I can smile (C) I don’t need his assistance (F) when I’m
leaking on the
ground bare (A)
