Beastina

A beastina begins with the framework for a sestina which has six 6-line stanzas with repeating end words. The seventh and final stanza is a 3-line envoi which has all the line-ending words, in the original order, with odd-numbered words hidden inside the lines and even-numbered words on the end. Meter is optional.

The pattern for the beastina with the 6 line-ending words is:

1st stanza 1 2 3 4 5 6 ___(Initial end-words)
2nd stanza 6 1 5 2 4 3 ___(Initial end-words rearranged)
3rd stanza 3 6 4 1 2 5 ___(Verbs change tenses; nouns singular to plural)
4th stanza 5 3 2 6 1 4 ___(Synonyms for initial end-words)
5th stanza 4 5 1 3 6 2 ___(Antonyms for initial end-words)
6th stanza 2 4 6 5 3 1 ___(Loop poem formatting)
7th stanza 1 2 3 4 5 6 ___(Initial end-words in three lines)

What sets the beastina apart from the sestina are the alternating end words.

In the example below, the repeated words are at each line's end. The repeating words in this example are DOG WALKING FRIENDS BE OUT and GIVE.


Pancake's Extenuating Circumstances

There was a little wiener dog
whose belly dragged when walking;
he caught a lot of flack from friends
who felt this should not be.
"Hey, Pancake!" they would call out,
"Your gut's got too much give."

give
dog
out
walking..................SAME END-WORDS
be
friends

friend
gave
was.......................VERBS and NOUNS CHANGE TENSES or NUMBER
dogs
walks
outted

expose
pal.......................SYNONYMS for INITIAL END-WORDS
strolling
present
pooch
is

nonexistent
hide.......................ANTONYMS for INITIAL END-WORDS
kitten
enemies
take
running

walking
walking.....be
be.............give................STANZA in a LOOP FORMATTING with INITIAL END-WORDS
give...........out
out............friends
friends......dog

dog ......walking
friends..........be...........INITIAL END-WORDS in THREE LINES
out ............give


EXAMPLE:

Pancake's Extenuating Circumstances

There is a little wiener dog
whose belly drags when walking;
he is catching a lot of flack from friends
who feel this should not be.
"Hey, Pancake!" they call out,
"Your gut's got too much give."

Pancake lives his life to give;
he is that kind of dog.
Never feeling down and out
as long as there is walking,
and a reason to be
together with friends.

Pancake is the definition of a friend,
who always gave
whatever it was
that may have been needed by dogs.
Of course, he enjoys his walks,
when his insides can be outted.

He loves to expose
his fluffy hair for a passing pal,
while strolling,
tuned to the present,
to observe what a perfect pooch
he is.

His detractors are usually nonexistent,
but today they could not hide
their consternation. Like fleas to a kitten,
all of his friends are suddenly enemies,
attempting to take
a bit of his pride, before running.

No amount of walking,
walking that would normally be --
be a dynamic activity to live and give --
give until one gives out.
Out of friends?
Friends should be a friend's best dog.

Sometimes a dog discovers, while walking,
that friends are not always what they ought to be.
They may give out, leaving one to still out give.



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