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Kim has chosen a Sestina... the meanest form around short of a sonnet sequence or a canzone.

The first portion of the poem is pretty easy to understand. It operates on a repeated word principle. Choose six words (A B C D E and F). Use those words at the end of each line in the following order:

ABCDEF FAEBDC CFDABE ECBFAD DEACFB BDFECA.

The final stanza is an envoi of three lines that requires you to bury one of your words in the middle of each line and place another at the end of each line, in the following order:

Line one: B is in the middle, E is at the end.

Line two: D is in the middle, C is at the end.

Line three: F is in the middle, A is at the end.

If, for example, your words were (A)bitch, (B)moment, (C)house,(D)door,(E)rise, and(F)say, then your envoi might be:

In the final moment, before the sun could rise,

I opened up the door and stepped into the house.

There's nothing left to say. I have to knife the bitch.

Line length is variable, as long as it is consistent throughout the poem.

Good choice Kim. Makes the ballade seem like a sonnet... makes a sonnet seem like a haiku.










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