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Sestina

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Sestina
poem/jobe/sestina

‘Crossing the Swamp’: A Sestina by Carey Jobe

The Society
August 16, 2023
Poetry, Satire, Sestina
10 Comments
. Crossing the Swamp After about an hour hiking the swamp, I knew. A week’s rains flooded out the trail. Tall sameness of pines stood round me. Stagnant water, coffee dark, spread before me. My new...
poem/frank/culture

‘Red Flags’: A Sestina Sonnet by Joshua C. Frank

The Society
May 28, 2023
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry, Rondel, Sestina
16 Comments
. Red Flags a sestina sonnet The national flags of the Westerners’ lands Turn red in the dim, fading light of the sunset, Like Communist red—bloody floors in a prison. All the flags look the same when the...

‘Circles,’ a Sestina by Jack DesBois

The Society
November 20, 2021
Beauty, Poetry, Sestina
8 Comments
. Circles It seems to me that living comes in circles, That nothing, even this, is ever new, That all that we create is a stale rhyme, A now that cannot cover marks of then. It seems to me that every extant...

A Poem for the Chibok School Girls of Nigeria, by Bethany Mootsey

The Society
April 15, 2021
Culture, Poetry, Sestina, Terrorism
15 Comments
. Sestina 276 On the night of April 14-15, 2014, 276 mostly Christian female students were kidnapped from a high school by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria The dream was vivid, sickeningly...

‘Rosarium’: A Sestina and Other Poetry by Benjamin Thomas Cepican

The Society
January 17, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Poetry Forms, Sestina
7 Comments
. Rosarium a sestina A rose arises red from its green sheath Adorned with swords that prick and pierce: the thorn, Whose vigil kept ensures its life's not brief. Unmatched in charm though fresh from garden...

‘Reprobate’s Prayer Sestina’ by Mike Bryant

The Society
July 6, 2019
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Poetry Forms, Sestina
14 Comments
  I lift my eyes and pray to God above, deliver me, dear Lord, from Satan's Hell. I come to You with heart brimful of Love, content to drink life's water from Your well. And if, by chance, I do...

‘Sestina of Night’ by Karen Melander Magoon

The Society
April 21, 2018
Beauty, Poetry, Poetry Forms, Sestina
4 Comments
The lamp holds sway along the shadowed streets A penumbra encircles its sweet shine As night rests softly like a feathered cloak Upon a multitude of dancing stars And night and stars and lamp become a...

How to Write a Sestina (with Examples and Diagrams)

The Society
December 14, 2016
Education, Poetry, Poetry Forms, Sestina
2 Comments
by Dusty Grein The sestina originated among the troubadours of medieval France's Provence region, and the modern thirty-nine line form is attributed to one of these traveling poet entertainers of the...

‘Sestina: Falun Dafa’ by Sylvia Telfer

The Society
March 2, 2016
Beauty, Human Rights in China, Poetry, Sestina
3 Comments
  In China now are shadows forged from fire, a DNA pre-history. They cloud troubled villages, rice fields, goldfish ponds. Stones form, creating outlines with moving corners of such mild movements...
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‘The Indian Ballad Of Gitchy Naigow (A Sestina)’ by Douglas Thornton

The Society
April 2, 2013
Poetry, Sestina
2 Comments
Oh sad age, how the years will pass us by, Pass us and then our last visions refuse, Refuse us to look on our childhood skies: Oh daughter I am a burden to you, And this vision of mine, oh cherished...
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‘Dust, a Sestina’ by Sally Carter

The Society
December 11, 2012
Poetry, Sestina
5 Comments
The village school is cold and still. Its entrance gate is rusted shut, the playground overwhelmed by sounds of loaded lorries, hissing past, no noise but theirs to fill a school where only shadows come...
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‘The Colour of Dying’ (a Sestina) by Maroula Blades

The Society
November 27, 2012
Poetry, Sestina
2 Comments
The purple snail (Purpura patula pansa) is found in the Mixtec villages of the Oaxacan Coast in Mexico. The inhabitants carefully bleed the snails and then return them to the rocks. But due to illegal dyeing...




  1. Margaret Coats on ‘Pilgrimage’: A Poem by Margaret CoatsSeptember 29, 2023

    Mia, it's great to be able to take part together!

  2. Margaret Coats on ‘Pilgrimage’: A Poem by Margaret CoatsSeptember 29, 2023

    Monika, trekking together today and remembering you. Please excuse my rather disgruntled note below, made when comments were stuck. Problem…

  3. David Hollywood on ‘Ode to the Strings of My Guitar’: A Poem by Daniel HowardSeptember 29, 2023

    This is marvelous poetry, and paced so beautifully. Terrific and thank you.

  4. Joseph S. Salemi on ‘Abortion Notes’: A Poem by Phil FlottSeptember 29, 2023

    Brian, I can direct you to the following online location: forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=54905&start=30 This will bring you to Axis History Forum, a…

  5. Mia on The 23 Best Haiku of 2023September 29, 2023

    Congratulations Alena and well done everyone. All the haiku's are beautiful. Thank you to the judges and to SCP for…

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