Class Sestina! Portfolio Opportunity #14

But They Can't Forget the Noise

Listening to loud noises
building the buildings, we build the actual buildings
like a foggy night in a car
I would walk anywhere, given the light
throughout an opportunity
She’s a maneater, yes, you know this: She is selfish

Walking alone, enjoying my favorite music on my iPod, completely

     oblivious to the world surrounding me. Is this selfish?

They give birth to noise

but how can I explain this opportunity?

See the building

Oh, so many blinding bright lights!

I drank water in the car

In the name of pollution, lies a car

He stole her candy, selfishly

but as bright as the light

These are my noises

On top of the tallest building

he is growing the hearts of opportunity

Running into an opportunity

I can’t smoke because the lighter is missing from the car

like the dimmest of buildings

The woman kept walking until the sun became selfish

and she was out of noise

Action! Camera! Lights!

The glare of the sun -- the red, blue, and green lights

We live in an alley of opportunity

but they can’t forget the noise

the passing cars

these people not caring, so selfish

She and I drank vodka in the building

Big windows decorate the big building

She hid in the shadows away from the light

lonely and trapped in her selfishness

This annoying opportunity

moving though traffic in a car

And in the resonating stairwells, the sudden absence of noise

We continue to build, and given the opportunity

use headlights at night when driving a car

though he sees this as selfish, and all she sees is noise

The sestina, and its revolving order of end words, has its roots, some say, in numerology -- though the precise reason behind the order has been lost. Still, as you can tell, there's some magic in it. Regardless of our blind method of composition and the feeling that there were definitely too many chefs in the kitchen, our poem conjures up its own sort of sense. (Note: I did make a few changes, but these were only to the end words -- to make sure that we were adhering to the form.) 

For this option, let's get the rest of the chefs out and give you some elbow room.

Write Your Own Sestina:

To recap (and I'll detail the order of the lines below), a sestina is comprised of six sestets (six line stanzas), each stanza sharing the same end words albeit in a different order.

Start with a subject. In our poem, we chose the city. In Ashbery's "The Painter" (which you can find in the Ashbery blog post), he chose painting. From this subject, choose six words that you think are essential to it. Try to vary these words. Pick three objects that are associated with your subject, two actions, and a feeling. Or three adjectives, an action, and two feelings. Just try to mix it up a bit. In our poem, we chose noises, building, car, light, opportunity, and selfish. Ashbery uses building, portrait, prayer, subject, brush, and canvas. The words that you choose will end each line. They cannot just be in the line but must end each line -- this is a particular restriction of the form. They don't have to rhyme or anything like that, only end the line.

Next, imagine that each end word has a corresponding number 1-6, and they are organized and appear in this order in each stanza:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
6, 1, 5, 4, 2, 3
3, 6, 4, 1, 2, 5
5, 3, 2, 6, 1, 4
4, 5, 1, 3, 6, 2
2, 4, 6, 5, 3, 1

This seems far more complex than it really is. To make it easier on yourself, keep your words and their order recorded on a piece of paper while you write and just go top to bottom, letting the words that you've chosen lead the way and inspire the line that you are writing. Sometimes, the best way to go about writing sestinas is to write quickly as possible so your intelligence doesn't get in the way. Who knows what you might say if you don't give yourself enough time to think about it? It might be brilliant!

Due: 5/20