Hello everyone, so happy to see you all again!
It’s Day Twelve of NanoPoblano AKA National Blog Posting Month (but with a generous dollop of Peppers!) and I’m back with another video for y’all.
Check out the Facebook Live performance of my latest poem.
This particular poem was inspired by the Sestina form. I have written one of them before and am familiar with the mathematical nature of its construction, along with having to choose words that can be interpreted in many different ways, since there are six words and six stanzas in which they are used, along with an additional two or three lines at the end combining all of the words.
The words that I picked for this poem and their order are as follows:-
(A). Danger. (B). Courage. (C). Chaos. (D). Digital. (E). Harmony. (F). Precision.
If you would like some guidance as to how Sestinas are constructed (and how my word choices apply to the particular formula in creating them) then here is a reference to the prompt that I used to create my poem, which explains how you shuffle the words around and what order they should specifically go in for the stanzas:-
Day 12: Imagination Stands in the Road – OctPoWriMo 2017
If you fancy some alternative prompts that are far less complicated than Sestinas to help you write poetry this month (and to be frank, I don’t blame you!) then check out these resources below:-
2017 November PAD Chapbook Challenge by Robert Lee Brewer at Writer’s Digest
And here is my poem in written form because I’m sure that you will want to study the form more yourself, which can be tricky from the video alone!
Photo by dweedon1 from Pixabay
“Embracing The Cosmos And Overcoming Chaos” by David Ellis
Playing with fire, riding out the danger
Sacrifices will lead to scars and courage
Accepting stillness when all around us is in chaos
Lines blurred in a world becoming more digital
Remaining united and strong, in both peace and harmony
Requires dedication, commitment and precision
Making decisions involves knowledge and precision
Rushing a process and being selfish puts lives in danger
Balance and nuance creates elegance and harmony
When faced with problems, we must test our own courage
The future may be magical but real life still connects more than digital
Art thrives on embracing the cosmos and overcoming chaos
You would be wise to make a friend out of chaos
Timing is everything, intuition influencing precision
Sophisticated machines fooling us into believing digital is real and real is digital
Ignorance of issues suffered by others only puts ourselves in further danger
Change may be uncomfortable, inevitable and require much courage
Experiences will take their emotional toll but will eventually lead to harmony
Simplification of choices in life is how we maintain harmony
There will always be drama, it’s up to us to focus and control the chaos
The secret to the freedom of achieving our dreams is through courage
Precise questions are the prescription for perfect precision
Calculated risks must be taken in life or your agendas are in serious danger
Remember, you’re number one, never a zero in any world, both real or imagined digital
Tasks that are physical are being replaced by digital
Equal opportunities for humanity build firm foundations of harmony
Technology is better equipped at being our servant, as if it were our master it would bring upon us grave danger
Understanding twists and turns, patterns and paths is what truly defines chaos
In these ambiguous times we live in, it makes sense to cherish precision
The one thing we all have in common is our own strength through courage
Resilience and resourcefulness let us experiment with courage
Sharing is suddenly a language learned by all, harnessing the power of digital
Separating layers brings pulse and rhythm, skilled precision
From the heart, if there is trust and empathy, it follows there will be harmony
A meal not a feast, a place to turn denial into acceptance, calmness counteracting chaos
Life is a ride, sunset to sunrise, not really an adventure unless there is a little danger
Danger makes us question our own confidence but we must not let it suppress our courage
Digital communication can be used positively not negatively to help fight the spread of chaos
Precision through vision, love and hope in all things, a sincere heart filled to the brim with harmony
Still want more? I have also nabbed some other posts from fellow Cheer Peppers for their Day Twelve entries and for you to sample all of their spicy delights 🙂
Once, We Flew – Consolation’s Many Forms – The Miracle of the Commonplace
I took care of my inner child today – Stop procrastinating now!
Sea of Cortez – loristory – flights of fancy to parts unknown
Together and NOT – Rondelet – NamySaysSo – Perspectives, Inspirations & LifeHacks For Women
RESULTS, ACTIONS AND TRYING #MOTIVATIONALQUOTE – Shining Seeds – writing myself into wellness
Nano Poblano 2017- 30 Days of Haiku- Day 12 – The Illusion Of Controlled Chaos
Be Kind to Your Cashiers || 004 – EVENING, COMPUTER DEAN ON IRISH STANDARD TIME
Just Because – Fresh Off The Pad Poetry – Poetry from nothing. Inspired by Anything.
My Success is MY Responsibility… – Infinity Coaching
haiku for you: what happens next – memoirs of an unremarkable man
RAINGUTTER REGATTA 2017 – THAT CYNKING FEELING
Miracle Baby – The Muse’s Words – My journey back into the writing world with my Muse tagging along.
Jeeps and Aspens and Now, Now, Now – TYPOZAPPERS
Life isn’t fair. – Bug Bytes By Julie Burton
NaNoPoblano 2017 – Day 12 (November 12) – Zombie Flamingos – A journey into bloggerdom
The Night Ruby Marie was Born – billfriday.com – fictionary…8 megapixel artist…bloody awful poet.
Reading time well deserved – Books, Hooks and Yarn – everything is woven together
toofulltowrite (I've started so I'll finish) 
Interesting! Like a series of life quotes. The effort you put into this is impressive David. ☺
TY very much Di! I remember doing one of these before and having a lot of fun with it (despite having to write a lot and it is very difficult), so I thought I would try the process again. I have some other forms that I would like to try out but maybe I will also revisit forms that are magnificent like this one and hone my skills playing with them 🙂 Appreciate you reading and all of your wonderful support 🙂
My pleasure! 😊
That was an amazing poem! Loved the message in it and it was NOT boring at all!
Oh, and I read the blog you linked on how to do a sestina..it’s interesting..and maybe…just maaaaaaybe I might try it… :O
If you do take a stab at it, it might be worth choosing a theme for each of the six verses (and the theme could be related to one of the key words). The other alternative is to tell a story all of the way through but bear in mind the aim is to write different things and not repeat yourself. This is what I find most difficult with the form is coming up with six different takes on or ways to use each of the words and then you have to do it one final time for the ending. If you need any help, guidance or inspiration I would be happy to provide it, as I would love to see what you come up with 🙂
Oh…hmm..I didn’t know the part of not repeating things! :O I’ll still try it out one day and bug you if I need any help 🙂
Feel free to bug me any time 😉 I just feel that no-one is going to appreciate being told the same thing six times (because if you are going to do that you might as well just do a six line poem instead). This is exactly why the form is quite difficult in a way because you either have to come up with six different interpretations of the words or find six uses of the word that are not saying exactly the same thing. So the whole thing works best when you have a flexible set of words that you are comfortable reusing multiple times. I think it does help to have an associated theme per stanza because then you can drive that set of lines in the stanza to that theme but you also want an overarching theme, so that it all fits together properly, otherwise you will have six different mini poems with no way to tie them together at the end. If you need further examples I would be happy to e-mail you the other one that I have written. I’m going to publish that one in a collection in January next year, which is why I pulled it down from my blog 🙂 Poems that involve repetition of particular words or phrases are some of the best to work with though in my opinion because you already have a structure in place and goals to write towards rather than building the whole thing from scratch, so the limitations force you to create something that fits and gives you focus 🙂
Oooh..thank you for that explanation! I get the idea now! So, next step is to look for 6 words that I am comfy with..hmm..I have a feeling one would be coffee and the other lazy..teehee.
Lol I’ve seen coffee used before, so that will be a good one. As for lazy, I think you are anything but lazy 😉
Ha! I can be but I really don’t know why I keep saying that I am… must investigate…..
Lol TY for the compliment Shree 🙂 This is the second time that I have tried this form and while it is a lot of work, it really forces you to interpret things in lots of different ways and when it comes together, the feeling at the end is marvellous 🙂