Sestina Poem: "Haunted by My Mind's Ghosts"

John Gugie
My sestina stanza 1 uses a pattern of 123456, stanzas 2-6 uses 615243 and stanza 7 uses 236451. There is confusion over the word pattern in stanza 7 but have seen it done in all sorts of patterns, so I used an order that made the most sense for my poem, which tells a story about our own ghosts that reside within our minds.

I feel like I am being hunted
in a house that is haunted
tormented by otherworldly ghosts
angry over events of the past
wanting to cut short my future
jealous of those that are living

all of these arduous years living
being watched, stalked, hunted
they will be here in the future
I am being endlessly haunted
with horrific events of the past
and harassed by vengeful ghosts

physical manifestations of the ghosts
seem more alive than the living
repeatedly reliving the past
making me their prey, their hunted
I am to be forever haunted
until I am dead without a future

this is not an existence, a future
this I am certain of as the ghosts
ceaselessly appearing haunted
only when alone without other living
no one knows I am being hunted
by the spirits of my past

by most a long ago forgotten past
they live in the present and future
going through life without being hunted
ignorant of our surrounding ghosts
that pick and choose among the living
I am one of the chosen to be haunted

I am followed, wherever I go haunted
beginning with wrongdoings of the past
of men while they are among the living
being repaid for years into the future
until we ourselves become ghosts
the hunters rather than the hunted

I am haunted by my mind's ghosts
stuck living in my own past
looking at a future forever hunted






Published by John Gugie

I'm 35 years old from Pennsylvania. I'm disabled with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and use a wheelchair. I've a degree in finance from Moravian college in Bethlehem, PA, I'm very opinionated about most topics...  View profile

2 Comments

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  • Effi L. Donovan6/7/2011

    they can be constant companions... I managed to shuck mine :)

  • Karen Bishop5/31/2011

    Truly excellent! I sometimes wish they'd take a few days off from their haunting and hunting...blessed peace...if only.

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