The Sestina was a Poor Choice

Writing a sestina is one of those decisions you’ll live to regret.
Think of it as choosing the money over lasting love
or lasting love over a beef burrito. No matter what your choice,
your wallet, heart, or stomach, is gonna to be empty.
At least this sestina is the production of something
rather than a lack of everything. It’s important to keep an optimistic view.

I should have written a pantoum upon further review.
It has a silly name that sounds just as funny. I regret
only listening with any interest to the sestina’s form. Something
About the words “this is very difficult and confusing” made me love
the idea of the challenge. Easy just seems so empty.
So the hard form turned out to be the easy choice.

And whether or not it was the correct choice,
I’ve put too much time into this sestina with hopes that you’ll view
me with high regard. I do not want you to see this as empty
of artistic content or technique. I would regret
If you wasted your precious time reading a mindless rant, but I love
Chaos. There’s just something

about the very chaos the silent H adds. Something
that rubs against the grain and makes the choice
to do more than break the rules, but ignore them all together. Love
works the same way. The way you overlook shortcomings to view
a partner as the missing piece to your puzzle. Only to regret
to discover they are a catfish swimming through your cosmic sky, empty

of Pisces. And so that space remains empty,
despite our most valiant efforts to fill it with something,
anything to take our wandering minds off the regret
we may have from deciding to write a sestina. This was my choice.
To spend more time decoding the form than actually writing it. A view
I am sure you share based on the class time spent in vain. I’d Love

to say this was easier than what she said, I really would love
to, but that’s what she said. I’m afraid to leave you feeling empty
But apparently that’s also what she said. So please don’t view
this as a dabble in futility. Look past its shortcomings and see it as something
more than filler in a grade book. However, that is your choice.
Feel free to use this as a napkin for a beef burrito without regret.

Whatever you do, please view this poem with love,
or something like it. Reading it was a noble choice
and I regret if the restriction to form made the experience feel empty.

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