Metasestina 3:
Sestina on a Sestina on Self-Loathing

I have never read a sestina
written in the second person
before. You used end words as syllables cut off
from larger words by hyphens or line breaks. I need to try out
some of these ideas before I can get over
it.

The way I see it,
one objective in writing a sestina
is to counteract the redundancy of the end words you are forced to over-
use. I have always wanted to write a sestina where the lines end on
prepositions: nonspecific, usually nonliteral, words like "out,"
"off…"

Maybe now you’re thinking: "Get off
it.
Cut it out.
This is a lousy response to my sestina."
If so, you’re right, and after my six stanzas and envoy I will hand the pen back on
over.

And it’s true. I should read it over.
I got off
on
it
so much the first time as a sestina,
maybe I should call it a poem instead. Check it out.

I can’t figure out
where the line between poem and sestina is and when I’ve crossed over.
Still, my favorite sestina
is always the next one to be written, a write-off
by a lonely poet in a room trying to get it
on.

I go on and on
but still can’t figure out
when you would want to read it
over
instead of breaking off
in the middle? I have little patience for a sestina.

Can you write a sestina so that it uses end words that have six distinct definitions?
How about a prose sestina ending sentences on end words with six sentences per paragraph?
I get off on this stuff. Over and out.