Thursday, August 12, 2010

My major was creative writing, emphasis in poetry. One of my instructors introduced this poem to me and I thought I'd share it with you while I'm blogging a little on the subject.
 
The Shrinking, Lonesome Sestina
by Miller Williams 
 
 
Somewhere in everyone's head something points toward home,
 a dashboard's floating compass, turning all the time
 to keep from turning. It doesn't matter how we come
 to be wherever we are, someplace where nothing goes
 the way it went once, where nothing holds fast
 to where it belongs, or what you've risen or fallen to.

 What the bubble always points to,
 whether we notice it or not, is home.
 It may be true that if you move fast
 everything fades away, that given time
 and noise enough, every memory goes
 into the blackness, and if new ones come-

 small, mole-like memories that come
 to live in the furry dark-they, too,
 curl up and die. But Carol goes
 to high school now. John works at home
 what days he can to spend some time
 with Sue and the kids. He drives too fast.

 Ellen won't eat her breakfast.
 Your sister was going to come
 but didn't have the time.
 Some mornings at one or two
 or three I want you home
 a lot, but then it goes.

 It all goes.
 Hold on fast
 to thoughts of home
 when they come.
 They're going to
 less with time.

 Time
 goes
 too
 fast.
 Come
 home.

 Forgive me that. One time it wasn't fast.
 A myth goes that when the years come
 then you will, too. Me, I'll still be home.

 
 
 
 
Encyclopedia Definition: 
Sestina: an elaborate verse form employed by medieval Provençal and Italian,
and occasional modern, poets. It consist s, in its pure medieval form, of six
stanzas of blank verse, each of six lines -- hence the name. The final words
of the first stanza appear in varied order in the other five, the order used
by the Provençals being: abcdef, faebdc, cfdabe, ecbfad, deacfb, bdfeca.
Following these was a stanza of three lines, in which the six key words were
repeated in the middle and at the end of the lines, summarizing the poem or
dedicating it to some person.

1 comment:

Nicole B. said...

This poem made my little heart swell today because of my thoughts of wanting to go "home." (Where the heart is, right?) Thanks!