Trying on other poetry forms and finding the fit less than comfortable than my usual free-wheelin’ lyric style. \u00a0Just dictating the voices has always been so easy. \u00a0I saw, on the fb page, that the sestina was a prompt style last year and I gave it a try. \u00a0It was really hard to write with the set rules and predetermined words.<\/p>\n
I thought I would share it anyway…in the spirit of “sucking it up” and getting ready to share whatever happens – for next week.<\/p>\n
*sigh*<\/p>\n
Here it is:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Memory<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n It is the weight of bridges<\/p>\n cast in steel and concrete \u2013<\/p>\n sinking deeper in places it should connect \u2013<\/p>\n at the very least, allow us to pass over<\/p>\n those grimy, shadowed locales, surfacing<\/p>\n only when completely unnecessary.<\/p>\n The memories, unwanted and unnecessary,<\/p>\n tearing us apart rather than forming bridges;<\/p>\n constantly forcing shadows to keep surfacing \u2013<\/p>\n shadows burnt into concrete.<\/p>\n Sift through the ash over<\/p>\n the place where flesh and bone connect \u2013<\/p>\n or should connect \u2013<\/p>\n but do no longer.\u00a0 Grief is unnecessary<\/p>\n now \u2013 told to get over<\/p>\n it \u2013 to build bridges<\/p>\n from the world of the dead.\u00a0 Concrete<\/p>\n wings keep our better angels from surfacing,<\/p>\n when surfacing<\/p>\n from the heaviness, and the desire to connect<\/p>\n to the living, is the concrete<\/p>\n pillar holding us up in unnecessary<\/p>\n discomfort.\u00a0 Waiting for these bridges<\/p>\n to direct us over<\/p>\n the past; over<\/p>\n the ghosts continually surfacing<\/p>\n in twilight hours, bridges<\/p>\n day with night, where reality and dreams connect.<\/p>\n We want our brains to soothe, making it unnecessary<\/p>\n for a heart to be heavy; weighed by the concrete \u2013<\/p>\n memory of concrete<\/p>\n moment – moments we are supposed to be over.<\/p>\n But, somehow, we pry open unnecessary<\/p>\n corners of the brain \u2013 forcing down what was surfacing<\/p>\n in order to survive\u2026endeavoring to connect<\/p>\n to the world of flesh and blood which bridges<\/p>\n the suffocating concrete doubt, preventing us from surfacing<\/p>\n in places over the emptiness.\u00a0 Connect,<\/p>\n in spite of unnecessary doubt, to the hope in bridges.<\/p>\n R. L. Elke<\/p>\n Aug. 5\/16<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Trying on other poetry forms and finding the fit less than comfortable than my usual free-wheelin’ lyric style. \u00a0Just dictating the voices has always been so easy. \u00a0I saw, on the fb page, that the sestina was a prompt style last year and I gave…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":712,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/712"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16358"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16359,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16358\/revisions\/16359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}