 |
| Zestina.com -- Zestina _________________ |
"Zestina" is a play on the word "Sestina," which is a 39-line non-rhyming (typically) poem with a specific form consisting of 6 6-line stanzas and 1 3-line stanza called the envoy. In each stanza, the end-words are repeated and arranged in the following form:
1 2 3 4 5 6
6 1 5 2 4 3
3 6 4 1 2 5
5 3 2 6 1 4
4 5 1 3 6 2
2 4 6 5 3 1
1 2
3 4
5 6
For the envoy, there is some debate regarding how the end-words should be arranged--one text* says that 5 3, 1 2, 4 6 should be followed--but others often disagree and cite the repetition of the first stanza as the gold standard. And, then, poets (who generally follow their own muse) often have their own ideas as to how the overall form will play out in their own poems (poetic license).
"Zestina" could be a comprehensive poetry site dedicated to the tricky Sestina. Unfortunately, there is little profit in such heady and literary sites--such a site would have to be a labor of love, and, unfortunately, we cannot sell at "labor of love" costs.
However, the term itself suggests a colorful and lively website, perhaps in the tech department. Who doesn't like a zesty website with literary overtones? There is no law that says the owner must use this as a poetry site.
Perhaps the owner could develop a poetry word tumbler, or if you are especially talented in coding, a sestina tumbler: the user plugs in six words, desired order for envoy, and parameters regarding use of each word (for example, use as a root word), and Voila! A computer-generated sestina!
As of 8/11/2013, The term "Zestina" has not been found in the USPTO.gov or Trademarkia.com data bases.
_____________________________
To show the sestina form in action, we have posted one, written by the webmaster (not out of ego, but necessity, given that she owns the rights and can post it at will without paying royalties. There are far superior sestinas out there).
Basic end-words (which are often treated as roots of other words, varied as to tense, and use of singular and plural):
1. Bingo
2. (Dread) Lock (s) (ed) (et)
3. Trip (s)
4. (s) (m) (g) (c) (b) Old (ed)
5. (Fret) Work (s)
6. Rock (y) (ed)
**Psychedelic Bingo
(2035)
Psychedelic Bingo. The Paisley Palace. Bingo 1
Black light special. An android with dreadlocks 2
Calling “O-69" Just another number, an acid trip 3
Gone mild. Mellow Yellow. We are old-- 4
Hooked up, tied down, turned over. We ain’t gonna work 5
On Maggie’s farm no more. Hookahs, posters, rock 6
Music. Heavy metal, blues, jazz, rock 6
And roll, colliding like numbers in a Bingo 1
Cage. I ain’t NEVER gonna work 5
No more. Neon, strobes, Warhol Depends, locked 2
Wards. We know secrets, secret obsessions over sold- 4
Out riffs, long-dead songs. Rifts. A Zappa freak trips 3
Over rolling stones, I.V’s dripping into veins. A trip 3
To the john, now a journey through Haight-Ashbury. Rocky 6
Mountain High. A path so worn, so molded-- 4
But a man still forgets his way. “Bingo!” 1
Shrieks a woman on table three, her gray locks, 2
Frizzed and snarled, shaking like Joplin’s. She works 5
At sliding the numbers, gives voice to others. I’ll work 5
It all out, honey. Ancient as hell. A trip 3
With Generation X, a quest: a body locked 2
Into arthritis, loose bowels, erratic beats. “Rock 6
Me, Baby!” screeches from the loudspeaker. “Bingo!” 1
Yet another winner. Grand prize, pieces of gold, 4
Gilded like Elvis on velvet. God, how I dread his old, 4
Tired thrust. Swap it for new. I wanna work 5
On Maggie’s farm once more. Bingo, 1
Even psychedelic Bingo, sucks. Acrid trips 3
For the soured: distant gyrations, silent drums. Rock- 6
A-Bye, Baby, blown away in the wind. Lock 2
Life away in a big brass box, next to a locket-- 2
Dulled. Eleanor Rigby, alone, always alone--cold, 4
Waiting for her name to be called. I wanna rock 6
With Sgt. Pepper--paints Woodstock by number. Fretwork: 5
Now done. Bad vibrations: gone. No more trips 3
To the Clinic, no more flashing lights. Bingo: 1
Psychedelic Bingo. 1 Listen for doors, that last blackout. Lock 2
Away Purple Haze; trip 3 out Witch Hazel and Sister Grace. Bold 4
work 5 in Surrealistic Pillow all rocked 6
Out, lady, out.
_________________________________
*C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon. A Handbook to Literature, 6th Edition. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1992, page 439.
**"Psychedelic Bingo," is copyright 2000 by Jennifer Semple Siegel and may not be reprinted or reposted without permission from the author.
