Comments on: Last night I had a dream my father died.

Question: Last night I had a dream my father died.

Baby_Balrog — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:14:57 -0800

Can't remember a poem and it's driving me crazy. I think it's a sestina. Something about a father's dying.

It might be Weldon Kees. Google is failing me miserably and I can't seem to get back to work until I figure this out.

I think I remember it being a sestina because it seemed to contain lines like this:

"Last night I had a dream my father died."

Then, later, I think at the end,

"Last night I dreamed, my father died."

But, of course, if it was a sestina then the words in the above sentence would compose the ends of each of the preceding sentences. But I'm almost 100% positive it was a sestina.

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:21:24 -0800

It might be in this book: "The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms."

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:24:46 -0800

But then again, maybe not. Because I clearly remember the anthology it was in. Not the title, mind you, but nearly every other characteristic of the book. It was my favorite poetry book when I was a young, impish lad in the early 90s.

It contained quite a bit of Tennyson, specifically, the entirety of Loxley Hall. It had Vachel Lindsay's "The Leaden Eyed" (which was my favorite for many years.) It had a section on sestinas, which contained the above problematic piece. It was the size of a normal, small paperback, about two and half inches thick. It had a white front and back cover with blue lettering.

This will drive my insane.

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:25:26 -0800

or me, rather. I'm the only one who can drive my insane, which is a 2001 Ford Focus and burns oil.

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:25:58 -0800

The anthology also contained quite a bit of Ogden Nash, also.

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:26:12 -0800

sigh.

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:34:59 -0800

might have been a villanelle. Which, I suppose, is a sort of sestina.

By: chrismear

chrismear — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:44:34 -0800

Could it be "The Obsession" by Lewis Turco (second on this page)?

By: ludwig_van

ludwig_van — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:52:58 -0800

Yeah, I came in here to say what chrismear said.

By: ludwig_van

ludwig_van — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:56:20 -0800

And I think I saw it in the same anthology as you did - I'll post again if I remember the title or dig it out of the closet.

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Mon, 07 May 2007 10:17:56 -0800

YAAAAY! That's it! THANK YOU. You've made my day.

By: papakwanz

papakwanz — Mon, 07 May 2007 10:24:23 -0800

Technically, it is by "Wesli Court," Turco's sestina-writing alter-ego.