about summary refs log tree commit diff stats
path: root/src/exasperated.txt
blob: 493f9f566ff786af7ec41a8d4383ec72b814d500 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
---
title: Exasperated
genre: verse

project:
    title: Stark Raving
    css: stark
    order: 8
    next:
    - title: The Death Zone
      link: death-zone
    - title: Boy on the bus
      link: boy_bus
    prev:
    - title: AMBER alert
      link: amber-alert
    - title: The Death Zone
      link: death-zone
...

I didn't write this sestina yesterday. \
It's the first time I fell behind in my task \
and hopefully, the only time it will. \
This means that today I must write two \
sestinas. If I don't write them today, I \
will have to write two later down the line.

Although I feel I'm slogging through each line \
I think I'm doing better every day, \
though maybe this is wishful thinking: I \
showed my friend my just-completed task \
two days ago (my God, was it two \
entire days? I've no idea what I'll

do after thirty-nine days. I think I'll \
feel like Inigo Montoya, who'd been in the line \
of revenging for so long, he didn't know what to \
do with the rest of his life), and he deigned \
to be polite, but I could tell the task \
was hard for him. He told me finally that I

had made a noble effort, but that ultimately I \
failed. So my question: when will \
I be a decent sestina writer? For this is my task. \
Maybe if I just keep cranking out line after line \
I'll finally figure it out. Maybe one more day \
or another week will do it, or maybe I'll need two,

or maybe it'll never happen. Maybe a sestina's too \
involved, too much weaving of words too fine, and I \
will never write a good one, even on my best day, \
even if I employ all my skill and all my will. \
I'm not used to writing poems with thirty-nine lines, \
that must be the problem, must be why this task

is Herculean. He only had to finish twelve tasks, \
and I have one less one thousand, five hundred twenty-two, \
and it's nothing but complaining lines \
about how hard it is to be a person. I \
am getting sick of myself with these poems, and will \
soon be loathe to get out of bed every day.

But I tasked myself with this, which may be the worst I \
ever do to myself. I thought a poem NaNoWriMo would \
be fun, would line my resume, give me something I could publish someday.