Loaded (A Sestina)

[kdotdammit]

I continue to be inspired to write in sestinas. I really love the discipline of the form. This one took me HOURS and I do mean HOURS to write. I love writing in the confines and discipline of the form of a sestina. It forces me to see things differently, to rethink how I write, to explore new rhythms, phrasing, and seeing, to carve and craft, work

Comments

[duccio]

Your sestina is pretty cool. I don't think I had ever heard of the form before you mentioned it the other day. Tell me, when you shoot at the cards, do they flutter at all, I mean, is there any breeze, breath, that animates them? I was thinking maybe you could have the cards dangle from single strings so they have some movement, and might bob and twirl evasively as you take aim. After all, that is more or less how these phantoms operate: dangling out there in the either, and twirling maddeningly, as if they consider themselves ornaments of our dark careers. Flashing, weaving, shuffling, persisting; and they are always difficult to take aim at and eradicate.

Annie Oakley's Ace of Hearts target.

Annie Leibovitz tracked down an ace-of-hearts target used by Annie Oakley. The card, pictured in her book "Pilgrimage," is 4 5/8 inches wide and 1 7/8 inches high and is in a private collection in Los Angeles. (Annie Leibovitz)

[kdotdammit]

We haven't tried shooting the cards on string. Maybe that will be part of the process of the project. We do keep shooting the cards. We're going to collage them, and then shoot them some more. Perhaps we can try stringing them up by their bullet holes.

Annie Oakley's heart target is VERY AWESOME!!!! Thanks for sharing that with me. I love it.