OULIPOST #19: SESTINA

The prompt:

This will be one of your most challenging Oulipost prompts! A sestina is a poetic form of six six-line stanzas. The end-words of the lines of each stanza repeat those of the first, but in a differing order that in each successive stanza follows the permutation: 615243. The entire sequence of end words is thus: 123456; 615243; 364125; 532614; 451362; 246531. All words and phrases must be sourced from your newspaper text.

The process:

Such cute kitty. Anyway, I tried to follow the rules but....I didn't. I couldn't source all the words. I just sourced my end words. To be somewhat successful, I had to throw caution to the wind. I did source some words from the source text. So, that was sort of following the rules. Doug Luman is the man and I used his excel. I still am not entirely sure if created a proper sestina but I gave it a go. It's the longest poem I've ever composed, I think. 

Also, the Excel document and myself screwed up at the end and I did not intend the poem to end the way it did but I like it. I changed a few tenses and pluralizations of words. 

The result: 

A harrowing, glossy, (happy) experience

Seeking sustenance proves harrowing

the pangs of hunger lingering

a bologna sandwich, not normal 

food photographs glossy

Eating lunch with friends

A fond memory

You are a memory

I search for happiness, something less harrowing

A food for the soul, Could it be friends? 

A walk to find what is lingering

Yogurt--- glossy

Is tidy the new normal?

I wonder what is really normal?

Is it something in our memory?

Is it new, exciting, shocking and glossy?

Do we shrink to a whisper, something less harrowing?

We are strong, but wounds still linger

We peer into ourselves, we search for friends.

Changing colors, changing friends

A chameleon, is that normal?

Suspects in this, a motive still linger

I cannot erase your memory,

into something less harrowing

Our photographs shiny and glossy

Feelings masked under layers of glossy

Paint, a face hidden to friends

sustenance still proves harrowing

I will never be normal 

It's all just a memory

Balogna sandwich thoughts still linger

I grew to find, it's okay to linger

Cover your face with all things glossy

Until it's all just a happy memory

Hold tight to new and old  friends

You will never be normal 

Because if you are, you life is harrowing

I cried because it was all so harrowing

I dried my tears and I’ve stopped seeking normal

You are my friend

(and my normal...)

Source:

Rusell, Jenna. "For Watertown residents, normal will never be quite the same." The Boston Globe.  19 Apr 2014. A1-A6. Print. 

Moskowitz,Eric. "Danny takes strength from ordeal with Tsarnaevs." The Boston Globe.  19 Apr 2014. A1-A6. Print.