Sunday, March 13, 2011

Love Story Sestina- Keana M. & Katie M.

October mist blankets the city lights.
In the busy downtown, the mundane hipster
rides his fixed gear bike; on his back rests his guitar.
Off of his lips hangs a lit cigarette.
Thinking about the girl with the thick rimmed glasses,
he replays the first moment she walked into his life.

The girl wonders what he's doing with his life.
Holding back tears as memories, she stares down at the city lights,
longing settles at the bottom of the empty glasses.
He stole her heart at first sight- that young mustached hipster.
Hoping she'll encounter him again, she puts out her cigarette.
She closes her eyes, humming along to the radio's guitar.

As if she were there, he writes songs to her on his guitar.
He knows he needs her in his life
because, without her, he feels like a wet cigarette,
and his heart is beginning to resemble the dimming lights.
He thinks he'll never see her again- that beautiful jaded hipster.
Everywhere he looks he sees her reflection in the glasses.

Night after night, her tears fog up her glasses
because she can't help but think of him every time she hears a guitar.
To her, he is so much more than just a hipster.
She hopes that there's more to her life
then just looking down at the lights.
She pretends he's next to her as she lights her last cigarette.

He rides his bike to the corner store because he's smoked his last cigarette.
As the sun comes up he puts on his glasses
and the world flickers as the lights
turn off and the sun shimmers on his guitar.
He knows he wants more to his life
than just being a pretentious hipster.

The lovely female hipster
walks to the corner store in search of a cigarette.
She can't help but wonder what she is doing with her life.
Still pondering, she adjusts her glasses.
The cherry red wood of a guitar
catches her eye as it reflects the store lights.

Life has a way of coming together,
beyond hipster materialistic matters- a guitar, a cigarette, or glasses,
the lights of love, always allow two people the grace of being together.

8 comments:

  1. Wow, as I read this sestina, I felt like each line animated a scene from a romance movie. I really enjoyed the language ("without her, he feels like a wet cigarette") and especially the last line- it tied the whole sestina together. This was beautiful.

    Boa K.

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  3. Heavy use of the word "hipster".This poem reminds me of how much I dislike labels. I wish society didn't feel the need to put everyone into neat little boxes, but then I guess it's makes it easier to talk badly about people. The worst thing about labels is when people choose to base their entire lives around them. When someone likes a label and does everything in their power to fit into it, it's pathetic. Maybe I'm crazy. I just wanna live in world without labels where people are genuine and didn't feel like they had to identify themselves in such simple terms.

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  4. I agree with the above comment. To me, the excessive use of the term 'hipster' takes away from the otherwise well written sestina. You use the words 'mundane' and 'pretentious', both of which have a negative connotation, to describe a fabricated stereotype that ironically, you give the impression of striving towards and becoming. Also, I am curious of the recurrent use of cigarettes. Both the girl and boy smoke a first one, and then their last one, and yet, the female hipster is still in search of one while she unknowingly has caused her lover to coincidentally even feel like a 'wet' one. Is the cigarette symbolic or does it simply represent the hipster's lack of anything better in life, compensating for their unmet desires of one another?

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  5. This was one of the sestinas I enjoyed reading for the voting! I love how the scenes go from the girl to the boy, back to girl repeatedly as they eventually have the chance of seeing each other again. It was a very beautiful sestina, very romantic, and written well.

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  6. I assume you thought of that ancient belief that each pair of lovers are connected by an invisible red thread? That's just what I got from reading the last lines of the sestina, which concluded it very nicely I might add. Good job in creating this love story and I look forward to seeing more creative works!
    -Lian C.

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  7. OMG nicely done! You successfully created a new world! And what's more? You made it so that we readers can color it, giving it personality. For instance, when I was reading this while listening to Taylor Swift, it sounded like a story that's sad, but will have an happy ending. However, when I listen to Sweet Snow from NiGHTS Journey of Dreams (youtube it, it's really good), it sounds very nostalgic.

    --A. Chang

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  8. Love is a powerful emotion and one we should never take advantage of

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