good poem writers??????

Question

please help, i have to write a sestina poem and i know all the things i am supposed to do to it, but i dont know what to write!! anyone good at starting poems pleaaaase help!!!

Answer 1

It's true, sestinas are very difficult. (I love sonnets and villanelles myself.) The best way I've found to write a sestina is, instead of writing about a sentiment or an airy-fairy greeting card feeling, try telling a story. Make it go someplace, make somebody go through some changes. This will make people want to keep reading through the length of the poem.

Every form has its own poem that comes out of it. The length of the sestina allows you to examine something in more depth than a short poem like a sonnet or a quatrain. But this means you need something that carries over the length. Therefore simple subjects are not good enough. This makes the poem much harder to write, but much more rewarding to read.

The only sestina I've ever written that I thought was successful was one I wrote about a young factory worker who got her hand smashed in an industrial press. For good examples of the form, Google the poems "Sestina" by Elizabeth Bishop and "Sestina: Alaforte" by Ezra Pound.

Answer 2

well.... It is a long poem... so, what's a subject that you find beautiful, strong about, or down right long winded? (Sarcasm can be very funny in poetry). Search for examples online, because there are many clubs. I did mine on nature... Just make sure you get the form right!!!