Welp, I fear the sestina is not for me! I took a few stabs at it over a few days and couldn't get past two lines of a second stanza. It's a bit much for me at this time. I need to start small. I wonder if there's a dua-tina or a tre-tina...lol.
hey!! loved this, can’t wait to get writing. it looks like the slideshow stays on one slide from about the midpoint of the workshop to the end. thank you for offering the pdf so we can still follow along!
Welp, I fear the sestina is not for me! I took a few stabs at it over a few days and couldn't get past two lines of a second stanza. It's a bit much for me at this time. I need to start small. I wonder if there's a dua-tina or a tre-tina...lol.
hey!! loved this, can’t wait to get writing. it looks like the slideshow stays on one slide from about the midpoint of the workshop to the end. thank you for offering the pdf so we can still follow along!
such a lovely exercise!!
an antidote to gravity
I think it will protect me
and so, I build a fireplace
I cozy up - the warmth of him
which pulls the raindrops down my face
I gave away the life I lived for safety in a cave
the wild waited, at my door, then, lonely, walked away
play and walk away again, I always walked away
back in the grand adventure and before the illness struck me
down and bendy! ask me once, I bet you make me cave
was I ever strong enough? or rooted in a place?
I stare into the mirror, asking answers of my face
lips stay stitched together till they crack into a hymn
to sing is to unfurl my wings - get out! get out! defy him!
I want to! be an anarchist! a rebel! fly away!
I say, and then, and then I get a glimpse of what I have to face
and no - I cannot fly - yes, I remember, doctors told me
make your peace with normalcy and surely you will find your place
so long as you keep small and quiet, hide your wild in that cave
I guess I did, I built a house, to keep her safe inside that cave
alone, I thought, a home! I thought - until I looked and found him
the very one who pulls me close, who whispers to stay still in place
abandon me - abandon him - in choosing any other way
as if there was a choice, I feel the fire rage inside me
too strong to ignore, it shatters windows in my face
I’d like to light the neon “no”, the hotel of my face
to know that I will sleep in someone’s arms if I blow up the cave
to see, to love, beyond the haze, that creeps up all around me
all the time, the space, in his world, bends until I’m right beside him
but I do know how how the story ends - I know I walk away
I never stay this long, I write a song, a map, an X, a place
a place as something I can make… as if I can make a place…
as I write it, I can feel it, the defiance in my face
take it while I have it - take the chance to get away
in the world I’m building there will be a thousand caves
and I’ll love him as a friend - build an alter, write a hymn
we can dance - we will, but still, this time he can follow me
a grave mistake to think a cave’s an awful place to be
a nest to fly away from is the start, the gate, the key
facing back and home, I see - I needed him, he needed me