Monday, March 10, 2008

Write a Sestina

Today's challenge is to write a sestina. A sestina has six stanzas of six lines, ending with a tercet (a stanza of three lines). Randomly pick six words. Each word will be the ending of one line in each stanza. 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: Line1: ab, Line2: cd, Line 3: ef.


I am posting mine here but it is a work in progress.
In the Heart of Ohio

The streets are filled with children and dogs.
Summertime nights are beautiful,
Especially here in Ohio.
Children are rolling down the hills.
Only the young have so much heart.
No one seems homeward bound.

Parents call to the wayward bound.
Masters whistle for their dogs,
Who answer with so much heart.
Young girls making themselves beautiful.
Muscle cars come chugging up the hills.
Young studs pick up their dates in Ohio.

Laughter of children catching fireflies rings true in Ohio.
Teenagers are movie bound.
Night falls in the hills.
Night sentry is taken up by dogs.
Moon and starlight on the river is beautiful.
Ohioans live in Americas' heart.

This small mid-west state with all the heart.
Visages of the past can be found in small towns still in Ohio.
No wonder so many are for this state bound.
No trespassers get past the dogs.
Life is simple in the hills.

Strangers wander in the hills.
Perhaps, looking for their heart.
Some travel alone, others with dogs.
Looking for their roots in Ohio,
they are homeward bound.
No other state is as beautiful.

The sound of night is beautiful.
Crickets chirping, frogs croaking somewhere in the hills.
Soon teens will be once more home bound.
Someone receives a broken heart.
The moon shines bright in Ohio.
No lone howl goes unanswered before taken up by other dogs.

The mournful calls of the dogs are beautiful.
People are returning to the Ohio hills.
To find the key to their heart they are bound.
-Rita


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