Here is a link to my sestina poem.

I based my poem on the theme of motherly love and the idea that when you leave to go on your own path, you will then realize how important all the things you took for granted were. I was having dinner with my family when my brother, who was discussing when he would have to go back to America for university, started to tell us how he would miss my mother’s food when he goes. From this idea, I started to come up with ideas of a specific dish, and how to structure the poem. I ended up basing off the sestina on a Japanese dish called Miso soup – my favorite dish and something I eat almost every day. I decided to begin with how my mother cooks the dish, then shows what it’s like when I eat it, then lastly after we eat.

As I was writing the poem, my initial intention was to write about leaving and mother’s food, but it became more focused on tough love and how love is shown in various ways (not just verbally) as well as not forgetting all the things you took for granted.

Update: 26th Nov

Getting the feedback back, I think what I need to work on is my word choices and expression. My use of language and style could have been more effective if I had chosen better ways of expressing my ideas. Ms. Werner had commented that I should work on my tense and expression, but other than that, it was well done.

One thing I am proud of is my second stanza. I think that it really stands out compared to the rest of the poem as it steps out of describing the moment of making, eating, and finishing the miso soup, and focuses on the underlying idea of taking things for granted.

She wishes she had stood beside her mama,
And written all the secrets down:
What to add, and when to stop,
What to do, and what she left out.
The taste of her childhood warmth,
Forgotten, when she left

I also think that I was able to organize the poem well in a way that had a relatively smooth flow – starting from describing how the miso soup is prepared, how it is eaten, and how we finish off. I think I was able to effectively use the structure of a sestina. Overall, writing the sestina was a very interesting process and I think I learned how to understand the importance of diction and structure.