- Chelsey Maus
That One Time in Creative Writing Class
Updated: May 28, 2020
I was going through some of my old work from a creative writing class I took in college. I thought I would share a poem I wrote in that class here. One of our assignments was to write a sestina poem. I found a definition for a sestina poem on www.poetryfoundation.org.
"A complex French verse form, usually unrhymed, consisting of six stanzas of six lines each and a three-line envoy. The end words of the first stanza are repeated in a different order as end words in each of the subsequent five stanzas; the closing envoy contains all six words, two per line, placed in the middle and at the end of the three lines."
As of now the poem is untitled. Feel free to title it for yourself as you see fit.

In sporadic circles the dog
Ran faster amongst the performers knockings heads with the fire extinguisher
pitter-pattering about, almost stepped upon by a single foot
following the scent of wine made from a sentimental grape
nearby stood the elegant frame of an elephant
before being corralled by the master magician.
Steam erupted from his face as the master magician
placed his grip upon the neck of the dog
underneath the presence of the elephant
nearing the need of the fire extinguisher
praying for help by a solidary grape
as it all came down upon the fault of the limb called a foot
If it weren’t for her foot
maybe it would have been ended by the magician
under the influence of a spoiled grape
that had been regurgitated by the dog
before the flames arose and everyone ran for the fire extinguisher
stuck underneath the rear end of the rock sometimes referred to as an elephant
Try as they might to move the mass of the elephant
there were too many multiple of the foot
burying the flames before anyone could find another fire extinguisher
all eyes turned towards the terrified expression of the usually solemn magician
who was still holding the neck of the shameful dog
still vomiting up, one by one a spoiled grape
The squishy mess of the grape
rolled out of the opening between the teeth and underneath that elephant
whose sole purpose was to save the dog
from the multitude of soft, soft foot
under the spell of such a fantastic magician
who could prevent all from finding the fire extinguisher
Would they? Could they find the fire extinguisher?
if a spoiled grape
could be found in the midst surely the magician
would conjure up a spell to move the elephant
and everyone would find a better spot to place each foot
around the sweet, smirk of the dog
When the calm settled around the mass of the elephant
behind the multitude of each foot
all that remained was the loyalty of that one applicable Dog.
~Chelsey Maus