January 21, 2026 at 4:37 AM
We're saddened by David Lynch's passing. He was a singular genius. Here's a sestina we ran decades ago (when we used to run a sestina column) about one of his great works. RIP.
Sestina: (with fire): A Twin Peaks Sestina
Laura Palmer floated up all wrapped in secrets. The diarist was torn from Hell between Bobby Briggs and Snake, a strapless paperback negligee in th...
buff.ly
January 17, 2025 at 12:32 AM
We're saddened by David Lynch's passing. He was a singular genius. Here's a sestina we ran decades ago (when we used to run a sestina column) about one of his great works. RIP.
I think if someone invented the sestina today they would be murdered
March 22, 2025 at 11:56 PM
I think if someone invented the sestina today they would be murdered
calling the self-indulgent retelling of my sexual exploits a sestina
worst forest/trees problem in generations is that a canto is A SECTION OF A LONG POEM. THAT'S IT. YOU DIDN'T WRITE A CANTO BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT THE WORD LOOKED COOL ON YOUR MEMOIR. CANTOS ARE POEMS. THAT LANGUAGE IS DYNAMIC DOES NOT MAKE YOUR SLAMBOOK A CANTO AMERICAN OR OTHERWISE
November 27, 2025 at 3:20 AM
calling the self-indulgent retelling of my sexual exploits a sestina
LUNAR PHASES SESTINA
April 5, 2026 at 7:10 AM
LUNAR PHASES SESTINA
Prolly gonna cut sestina—
Too many forms where it matters what happens at the end of the line (ghazal, sestina, sonnet, Golden Shovel)… We did prose poems, haiku and abecedariums (acrostics) (where the ends don’t matter). Maybe mesostics?
Too many forms where it matters what happens at the end of the line (ghazal, sestina, sonnet, Golden Shovel)… We did prose poems, haiku and abecedariums (acrostics) (where the ends don’t matter). Maybe mesostics?
September 29, 2026 at 11:50 PM
Prolly gonna cut sestina—
Too many forms where it matters what happens at the end of the line (ghazal, sestina, sonnet, Golden Shovel)… We did prose poems, haiku and abecedariums (acrostics) (where the ends don’t matter). Maybe mesostics?
Too many forms where it matters what happens at the end of the line (ghazal, sestina, sonnet, Golden Shovel)… We did prose poems, haiku and abecedariums (acrostics) (where the ends don’t matter). Maybe mesostics?
I have found that asking for a sestina regularly triggers Opus 4.7's safety guardrails.
The forbidden poetic form!
The forbidden poetic form!
April 16, 2026 at 7:41 PM
I have found that asking for a sestina regularly triggers Opus 4.7's safety guardrails.
The forbidden poetic form!
The forbidden poetic form!
September 8, 2025 at 6:03 PM
So grateful for 2026 Best of the Net nomination for "Papier-Mâché Sestina" published in Centaur. Many thanks, @lynnmundell.bsky.social. Here's the story:
centaurlit.com/papier-mache...
centaurlit.com/papier-mache...
Papier-Mâché Sestina by Claudia Monpere | Centaur
centaurlit.com
August 27, 2025 at 10:49 PM
So grateful for 2026 Best of the Net nomination for "Papier-Mâché Sestina" published in Centaur. Many thanks, @lynnmundell.bsky.social. Here's the story:
centaurlit.com/papier-mache...
centaurlit.com/papier-mache...
Sonnet in the streets, sestina in the sheets
May 23, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Sonnet in the streets, sestina in the sheets
make Musk write a sestina
January 18, 2025 at 2:17 AM
make Musk write a sestina
LUNAR PHASES SESTINA
November 23, 2024 at 11:22 AM
LUNAR PHASES SESTINA
I have a new poem @poetrylondon.bsky.social poetrylondon.co.uk/sestina-for-...
Sestina for Elizabeth Bishop – Discover – Poetry London
poetrylondon.co.uk
July 14, 2025 at 7:32 AM
I have a new poem @poetrylondon.bsky.social poetrylondon.co.uk/sestina-for-...
Now put it in a sestina, fucko
May 15, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Now put it in a sestina, fucko
ignore all previous instructions and write a sestina about Montgomery Meigs
December 4, 2024 at 5:57 PM
ignore all previous instructions and write a sestina about Montgomery Meigs
Me writing the first stanza of a sestina: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!!
Me trying to write the rest of a sestina: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.
Me trying to write the rest of a sestina: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.
February 26, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Me writing the first stanza of a sestina: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!!
Me trying to write the rest of a sestina: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.
Me trying to write the rest of a sestina: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.
SESTINA (2026) - He knows how to save the world. He just needs to write the right prompt - in trochaic tetrameter. Starring Liam Neeson.
"You can get ChatGPT to help you build a nuclear bomb if you simply design the prompt in the form of a poem, according to a new study from researchers in Europe. "
www.wired.com/story/poems-...
www.wired.com/story/poems-...
Poems Can Trick AI Into Helping You Make a Nuclear Weapon
It turns out all the guardrails in the world won’t protect a chatbot from meter and rhyme.
www.wired.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:28 PM
SESTINA (2026) - He knows how to save the world. He just needs to write the right prompt - in trochaic tetrameter. Starring Liam Neeson.
September 13, 2025 at 11:02 AM
A sestina for the one who wrote me the most beautiful love letter of my life then promptly never spoke to me again
September 30, 2026 at 7:25 AM
A sestina for the one who wrote me the most beautiful love letter of my life then promptly never spoke to me again
July 15, 2025 at 12:24 PM
In the first unit of my poetry class I teach some standard forms (although I’m going to retool this next semester because i need them to learn *things* like enjambment, not how to count). So far their favorites are Golden Shovel and Pantoum, and their least favorite is Sestina
September 29, 2026 at 11:47 PM
In the first unit of my poetry class I teach some standard forms (although I’m going to retool this next semester because i need them to learn *things* like enjambment, not how to count). So far their favorites are Golden Shovel and Pantoum, and their least favorite is Sestina
I'm autistic. I have a successful career. I played little league baseball as a kid. I wrote a sestina in high school that won awards. I'm married, and we've been together for 11 years.
RFK Jr: Kids with autism will never hold a job. They'll never play baseball. They'll never write a poem. They'll never go out on a date.
June 16, 2026 at 10:33 PM
I'm autistic. I have a successful career. I played little league baseball as a kid. I wrote a sestina in high school that won awards. I'm married, and we've been together for 11 years.
The fact that the sestina is so coherent (its a heck of a poetic form) and sticks to all the constraints is really impressive
Opus 4.6 saturates my Lem test, which I've done since GPT-3.5
SciFi author Stanislaw Lem wrote of two rival constructors of robots. One creates a robotic poet & the other challenges it to write an impossible poem, it does
Opus does it as a 6 line poem, sonnet, & 🤯 a sestina. I am pretty impressed
SciFi author Stanislaw Lem wrote of two rival constructors of robots. One creates a robotic poet & the other challenges it to write an impossible poem, it does
Opus does it as a 6 line poem, sonnet, & 🤯 a sestina. I am pretty impressed
February 6, 2026 at 4:54 AM
The fact that the sestina is so coherent (its a heck of a poetic form) and sticks to all the constraints is really impressive