My attempt at a Sestina Poem

​ Quick announcement before diving into the poem. For the month of August, I am going to post a blog twice a week, Wednesday and Saturday. I'm working on three different stories, one each week. This upcoming week I will discuss things I learned about the modeling industry for my upcoming novel, Being a Model.

According to poets.org, ​"The sestina is a complex form that achieves its often spectacular effects through intricate repetition... The sestina follows a strict pattern of the repetition of the initial six end-words of the first stanza through the remaining five six-line stanzas, culminating in a three-line envoi." 

The Coddled Mind

A Something I couldn’t bear to notice
B A startling discovery of the worst kind
C I covered my eyes in shame
D I covered my ears to the voice
E The reality, my reality
F My crumbling world
 
F Once shone like a bright emerald
A A living for the modest
E Lacking in regality
B But it was all a trick of the mind
D My subconscious gave me no choice
C I lived in a façade I couldn’t tame
 
C That left me shackled in strain
F Every night under my covers I tremble
D I am no longer Joyce
A I am a shell, something dishonest
B Something untrue and unkind
E In this dirty haze, where do I find clarity?
 
E I never had the audacity
C I don’t think there is anything left to gain
B I’m just stuck in this bind
F  I have been crippled
A Lost and fallen in the forest
D All this noise
 
D Has broken down my poise
E Broken down my sanity
A A hard thumping against my chest
C A searing pain
F  A mind too brittle
B “Just leave it behind.”
 
B “For another wanderer to find.”
D For another wanderer’s mind to destroy
F No matter how strong or little
E The person will be held in captivity
C If only I had seen the chain
A That wrapped around my ankles like a nest
 
E I would have never let it shatter my dignity
C Dropping it down the drain
A Leaving to find a new willing quest