Looking at Exploration

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I set off without consulting a map
So sure of my destination
And familiarity with the way
That I would never become lost
Or confused, fate had other plans
And so I wander

Like a meandering river I wander
Causing a redrawing of the map
Turning my plans
Into an unknown destination
Refusing to admit I’m lost
Still so certain I know the way

I circle back turn again a different way
Repeat the mantra “not all who wander
Are lost”
Decide to unfold the map
Trace the route to my destination
Note the destruction of my plans

I can’t remember the plans
I don’t know the way
Slippery memory of a destination
I fish for the answers as I wander
Tracing my veins as a map
Knowing that I’m lost

Exploring uncharted lands lost
Was never part of my plans
A mental map
To find my heart’s way
Instead the mind will wander
Never to reach my destination

Suddenly you loomed as my destination
You saved me when I was lost
Holding my hand you wonder as I wander
You were in my dreams but not plans
Yet you found a way
To put me on your map

Love has its destination despite plans
Being lost in love is the only way
To wander even when consulting a map

This is my sestina to fulfill the End of Summer scavenger hunt prompt #9 – Write a sestina about exploration. I have to give credit for the inspiration for this one to Kim Hawke. She shared a post on FB on May 17th about the meandering of a river’s course over time and how the river moves/changes and how this relates to the evolution of a woman into her own person. Anyway she suggested it as a writing prompt. I saved it thinking that perhaps I’d make it into a prompt for this scavenger hunt. Well I completely forgot. Then as I was writing this sestina it all came back to me. Sestinas have never been easy for me but I think I’m getting a little better or at least a little more comfortable writing them. This one practically wrote itself!

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71 thoughts on “Looking at Exploration”

    1. A boatload of thanks Carrie! This one was easier to write than some of the sestinas in the past… I think I’m getting the hang of it but doubt I’ll ever get to the same level of proficiency as Sandra (Harpo’s Mark from Xangaland)…

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  3. I really liked this one.. The challenge looked great but the answer both to the challenge of the sestina, the challenge of the subject and and the story of our challenge in life all impressed me.

    On Fri, Aug 20, 2021 at 6:12 AM A Different Perspective wrote:

    > murisopsis posted: “I set off without consulting a map So sure of my > destination And familiarity with the way That I would never become lost Or > confused, fate had other plans And so I wander Like a meandering river I > wander Causing a redrawing of the map Turning ” >

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    1. I’m tickled pink that this one impressed! The sestina has never been a form that I’m comfortable with but this one somehow was the easiest to do. Possibly it was the subject or perhaps the inspiration. Who knows? I’m just wandering through life and enjoying the journey!

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    1. Yes Bonnie – we are all on a journey! This poem was just a poetic trip through sestina-land. For once it was a smooth trip! Glad you thought it clever (and not a boring travelogue)!

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    1. The congratulations are a tad premature – I have 4 more to go but they will be completed on time. Thanks so much for joining this scavenger hunt. I enjoyed your poetry and your wry sense of humor!!

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    1. Thanks so very much Michelle! The sestina is my big stumbling block. I was introduced to the form a long time ago and it caused me so much anxiety that I avoided writing them (except when they came up in various poetry challenges). After a little encouragement from an online friend and accomplished sestina writer I tried again and found that they aren’t as bad as I first thought. The key is choosing words that can be used in a variety of ways or are very commonly used in conversation. Then just write as if talking and break the line at the specific word… I’m certain you can do it!!

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        1. Hehe! It is the teacher in me – I can’t help but answer questions and it is in my nature to help others – especially those who are struggling! I am only relaying the advice I got that made this form a little easier! ❤

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  7. My oh my! That was lovely, and can I just say, that exact image (beautiful map art) came to me as I kept reading. And then to realize you had referenced it; wonderful. I’d say you followed that map well.
    Thank you!

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    1. I had thought that I had included that in the prompts and of course it sifted to the bottom of the brain box and was buried. It finally surfaced way after the scavenger hunt had started and there was no way to include it in the prompts. 😦 So I did the next best thing and used it for this sestina. Thanks for the inspiration! Sparky is into cartography (which is why we have 8 globes in the living room and a whole shelf of the bookcase devoted to maps) and he is “the Navigator” in my life…

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      1. I love that you chose it for the sestina. I love maps, too, seemingly at a visceral level, as they keep showing up in my art. Or the Muse likes maps, too.

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  9. women and rivers, good one Val, you aced it! I’ve written most of this one, last 2 stanzas to go … decided to give it ago once I saw the pentina. That one is already scheduled, thanks for the challenge 🙂

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    1. Thanks Kate! I’m pleased you thought it was good. I can’t wait to see your sestina. If your other efforts are any indication, it will be a masterpiece! I think the challenge is easy since I threw down the gauntlet – it is all on the poets to pick it up and show their mettle. You need to give yourself a pat on the back from me (but mostly congratulate yourself for producing some excellent work)!

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        1. ?!? You lost your readers? I can’t fathom that anyone would leave. I’m still very happy that you poemed with the rest of us and that you have the poets visiting your blog…

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          1. I’m not the only one to have a massive reduction in readers … another blogger with more than 6,000 followers, who usually gets hundreds of likes per post is struggling to get 60!

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            1. Wow. Sounds like a WP issue. I’ve doubled my followers with this ASH going from 250 to almost 500. But then I’ve never been one of the top bloggers and by flying under the radar I’ve avoided almost all the spam and trolls!

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                  1. I have no idea, banks are operating again but our readers haven’t returned … so probably just ‘fixed’ the big jobs and left the little ones as collateral damage, as usual 😦

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                    2. oh this is some super secret linking service that underscores all our systems … they say it’s lucky it was only one strand that broke?!?!

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                    5. What?! Volunteers? I thought that WP was a pretty big deal run as a business and had paid staff keeping things going! I just looked it up and they are a real company worth $3 Billion with actual employees and a CEO. Now Xanga was a totally different story. When they went belly up and the paid staff tried (and are still trying) to keep it going as volunteers. They even asked some of the more active bloggers to help out and field questions…

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                    6. $3B is a shock, in Qld I attended a local WP group expecting they’d be bloggers …. but they were the IT guys who claimed they were the volunteers who set it up and ran it, ewouch! The evenings were well sponsored for drinks and eats …

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                    8. they were very … IT guys [12-20], only met one other lady there and none blogged! One younger guy took pity on me and answered one of my simple questions but there was a very strong undercurrent that I was not welcome … so I went x 3 😉

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                    9. Very weird and sketchy. I’m married to an IT guy and most real nerds would be jostling for the opportunity to interact with a female of the species. You would never get the “you don’t belong vibe” as they jump at the chance to meet any woman who shows an interest in their area of expertise! Makes me think they were not what they represented themselves as…

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                    10. I was not interested in their area, that was all Russian to me! I just wanted to meet some bloggers and ask some really basic questions eg how to get rid of double spacing, how to post a pic, etc when I first started …

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                    11. Still if they had been legit they would have helped you without making you feel unwelcome. Because really if they had coded it they should be intimately familiar with how it functions!

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                    12. yes the young man made it sound awfully easy but experience indicates that most ‘experts’ struggle to convey that expertise in simple language understandable for beginners 😦

                      You are being super defensive, I am not attacking Sparky here …

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                    13. Hehe! I didn’t think you were attacking Sparky. I guess it makes me angry that the people putting on the event were so unhelpful and made you feel like an interloper. All the experts I’ve encountered really want to share their expertise and will genuinely try to help (even if on occasion they are speaking a different language!). I wonder if he was just trying to “brush you off” with some glib answers… A sad experience.

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                    14. oh no the young man was a huge help and I was an interloper, it just stated a WP Meet-up, never mentioned IT … my fault for not checking it was bloggers …

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  12. Muri, putting aside how much I like this poem, which is a lot... it feels like a sestina is very well suited for the topic of exploration… it’s hard for me to explain, but it just feels right.

    ❤
    David

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    1. I am overjoyed that you like this one so much. The sestina is an intimidating form but it did work for this topic. Sometimes the forms fit the topic so well that they are effortless and there is no straining to force a foot too big into a tiny glass slipper….

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    1. hehe! We’ve been turned around before… We have the car GPS, the phone, and the atlas – trying to cover all our bases when navigating in new territory. And when we get close to the caching area we have our hand held GPSs up and running too! (still we get a little off course but not for long.)

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  16. Love the Tolkein reference that you have expanded on in this piece. And especially love ‘can’t remember the plans, don’t know the way ‘ – it’s often surprising how so many find it. And yes we all need our guardian angels!

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  18. Pingback: 109 – Frontier – Beach Walk Reflections: Thoughts from thinking while walking

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