Sonnets, for example, evolve from Petrarch to Wyatt, Spenser to Shakespeare, and on to the modern forms which shed syllabic and staging tenants. 

Haiku have dozens of forms which, we are told, represent different moods and purposes for the poetic variances. 

All these forms are mentioned to lead us to the sestina. 

According to Google:

“a sestina is a fixed verse form consisting of six stanzas of six lines each, normally followed by a three-line envoi. The words that end each line of the first stanza are used as line endings in each of the following stanzas, rotated in a set pattern.”

The best way I have found to begin this poem is to cultivate the “end words” that will be used and reused in the poem. There will only be six end words which will appear at the end of each sestet, or six-word stanza.

First, choose a subject. Let’s say COWBOYS. Next, find six words that connect with this subject.  Let’s decide on these words: lasso, cattle, saddle, dusters, lonesome, and brand

Since these will be the last words in the poetic lines, begin by assigning each a number. 

1  lasso

2  cattle

3  saddle

4  dusters

5  lonesome

6   brand

There will be six six-line stanzas and an envoi. The first will be as the example above, while the succeeding stanzas will rearrange the end words like this: LAST word, FIRST, second to last, second, lower middle, and upper middle. 

So, the framework will look like this, reading top to bottom, column by column:

1     6     3     5    4     2     1

2     1     6     3    5     4     2

3     5     4     2    1     6     3

4     2     1     6    3     5     4

5     4     2     1    6     3     5

6     3     5     4    2     1     6

Then, we assign the end words to the numbered order:

   1             2             3            4              5            6          envoi

 lasso          brand        saddle      lonesome     dusters       cattle        lasso 

 cattle          lasso          brand       saddle          lonesome   dusters     cattle

 saddle        lonesome   dusters    cattle            lasso           brand       saddle 

 dusters       cattle          lasso        brand           saddle        lonesome dusters 

 lonesome   dusters      cattle        lasso            brand          saddle       lonesome 

 brand         saddle        lonesome   dusters      cattle           lasso         brand 

Place the stanza end words in order, then the envoi can take on a few different formats. The easiest one, which I am using here, is 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 on the three last lines. The even numbered word would be the end word, and the odd numbered word will appear somewhere in the line. 

lasso-cattle

saddle-dusters

lonesome-brand

So, the next step is to fill in the lines with words that make sense and support the subject -- cowboy.  The use of syllable count is varied, but mostly eight or ten syllables. Meter can be used or not, and varied lengths of lines is also an option.

 

 spins his trusty rope into a lasso 

 rings a certain cow among the cattle 

 cinches the strained line onto his saddle                      

 the sand and sediment tests his dusters 

 a man upon a horse may seem lonesome  

 the sight alone on horseback is his brand                                                                                                                

 the time has come to institute a brand  

 he forms a working loop with a lasso  

 the cow-eyed steer may feel a bit lonesome  

 observed by useless kin -- other cattle  

 cow pies jump and splash against his dusters                                   

 cannot reach the cowboy in his saddle 

 he pulls the iron bar from his saddle 

 to heat the bent initial for the brand   

 the fire's heat challenges his dusters  

 the tension tests the strength of his lasso   

 observed by tethered fire-hating cattle                                                                                                              

 all leaving the cowboy further lonesome

 the shadow of our cowboy seems lonesome 

 man alone within a stream of cattle                                                                                                     

 humanity above and in his saddle                                                                                                                                 

 the keeper of the heated stick to brand                                                                                                                

 the hold of the neck-embracing lasso                                                         

 behold the vested cowboy in dusters

 the sandy desert falls from his dusters   

 like the desert he still remains lonesome   

 on the horn of his saddle hangs a lasso                                                          

 the lasso that hangs from his saddle                                                                                                          

 charred on his boot is the ranch's brand                                                                                                                        

 which also appears on the sides of cattle

 so few cowboys to stay with the cattle

 so few cowboys to wear their dusters 

so few cowboys to issue the brand

the cowboys so truly are lonesome

no one to sit alone in a saddle

no one to circle and tass a lasso

he tosses the lasso towards the cattle

upon his saddle attired with dusters

the cowboy with lonesome as his brand

Once the initial poem is written, work to make it better before posting. Sometimes you may choose to change an end word. That’s fine, remembering that they all change in each stanza and continue to make sense.