Okay, hold on, let’s take this from the beginning
How do I even start this?
Do I just end my sentences with random words?
I guess I have to make this coherent
Can’t have it incomplete
That would just be too easy
To be truthful, I went into this thinking it might be easy
Figured it would just roll out once I had a beginning
Instead it’s just a series of ideas, irritatingly incomplete
I have next to no idea what to do with this
How do I keep this entertaining and coherent?
It’s rare that I’m at a true loss for words
I guess I don’t always have to know the words
At least, finding them doesn’t have to be easy
At least, not if I just want this coherent
That was my goal in the beginning
But I guess I want more effort in this
So it isn’t coherent yet incomplete
The greatest crime to poetry is a poem that’s incomplete.
One with no reason in its words.
So, might as well put some effort into this
Even if it’s far from easy
They say the hardest part is the beginning
That it all flows from there, becomes coherent
I wonder why that’s so important, being coherent
Why it’s so important to make it not incomplete
Why it all has to start from the beginning
Can’t I just use random words?
That would certainly make this easy
But, I guess that’s not the point of this
If it were easy, everyone would do this
If it were easy, we could all make it coherent
But, it’s not easy
It’s hard to make this feel not incomplete
I guess I just have to wait for the words
And hope I can get past the beginning
I guess just beginning is the best way to start this
I may have to search for the right words to make this coherent
Anything to make it more than incomplete, even if it isn’t easy.
So, obviously this poem is a bit peculiar. It’s a poem I had to write for my poetry class, and it’s a poetic form called a Sestina. Basically, it’s a poem of six stanzas of six lines each, with a three line envoy(basically a stanza) to end it. These lines are unrhymed, and the lines end in a rotating pattern of the same 6 end words. The three lines at the end contain all 6 end words. It’s alot, I know, and I’ll include a link that explains it in more detail.
It took me a while to write, or to even come up with an idea. At first that bothered me, but I steadily got used to it. I realized that it’s okay to not have a fully realized idea immediately, and that in the end this confusion can create some of our best works. I don’t consider this sestina my greatest poem, but it taught me quite a bit about how I view my poetry, and even life. It taught me that you can’t force some things. Sometimes, you just have to be patient and trust that they’ll come in due time.
Here’s a link to a definition and breakdown of Sestinas. If you’d want to give it a try, go for it! Trial and error is the best way to learn any skill.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/sestina
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