When I was at the writing retreat earlier this month, I wrote two sestinas. The first one is HERE. I like this description from a writer friend, “it’s like writing a marathon.” Yep. It is and such a puzzle.
What I have discovered is that it’s almost story like when you’re done. And I no doubt will play with this form more in the future.
From my writing journal. This is the first draft. Here is the revision:
My Life with Books
My world can’t have too many books
I was born into a life of stories
My summers spent at libraries
Books held mysteries and discoveries.
Written words paved the way to adventures
Some days I wanted to crawl into the pages
It only took a good hook on the first pages
Every family vacation required a stack of books
Fairy tales and mysteries and fantastical adventures
At times, I stayed inside the stories
as they led me down the path of discoveries
I was always found at my other home, libraries
My life preserver was in the rooms of libraries
My solace located only in the pages
My world exploded in a myriad of discoveries
in my prized possession of my books
My gift to others was telling stories
as I continued my daily routines of adventures
My mother taught me to value adventures
My grandmother brought me to libraries
My truth was in telling my stories
with many mysteries in the pages
I cried at the burning of all the books
My town ignored such inexplicable discoveries
My journey followed the unsolved discoveries
My path filled with abounding adventures
My gifts were always the giving of books
Sometimes leaving them at libraries
with hidden messages within the pages
A secret code to unlock in the stories
My trail followed the stories
which always led to discoveries
But what if we missed the signs in the pages
or what if we lost the adventures?
We can make our way to the libraries
and find them again in books
I memorized the stories on the pages
of the books that held discoveries
in the libraries full of adventures.
©Jone Rush MacCulloch
Jone Rush MacCulloch 