Poetry Response- Sestina

Callie Huseman
Jernigan
English 4 AP
29 March 2011
“All American Sestina”
This poem follows the structure of six six-line stanzas and one three line stanza. The poet begins each line in the poem with a number, except three. The three lines that do not start with a number have a number somewhere in the line, for instance “high five.” The poet allows the numbers to speak for themselves, and through them, she describes America. To her, America can be simplified to the simple numbers. To an extent, this is very true. I knew exactly what she was talking about every line. They were all familiar topics.
For the first stanza, the first words of each line follow a numerical pattern, from “One” to “six.” She soon breaks from this pattern and uses random numbers. However, each stanza includes all of the numbers one through six, in a different order. Although the last stanza is only three lines long, she still manages to do this by putting two numbers in each line. (“Two thumbs up, five karat diamond”)
The sound in the poem is quick and to the point. The poet never uses more words than are necessary to state the number. There are no connections or descriptions to go along with the words. The tone of the piece is both negative and positive. The poet makes sure to mix the phrases with negative connotations with those with positive connotations. For example, one of the stanzas says “One night stand… five star general.”
The poem “All American Sestina” by Mayers focuses on the numbers that describe typical American life in order to show a picture of the life and culture of America.