I haven’t done a “take six words and see where they take me” sestina in a while. This is six words given to me yonks ago by Alex Wrekk, which totally stumped me, until, today, sitting on the sofa with the cat, I found the answer.
Drugs.
It’s still a bit weird.
There is a village high up in the mountains
The houses there are small, but very pretty
But way up there, it is a funny thing:
Up there you’ll see the odd unusual flower
And sometimes, you might see a pterodactyl
Fly screeching like a faulty carburetor
Shall I compare thee to a carburetor
As thou fliest shrieking, high above the mountains?
It seems improper that a pterodactyl
Should sound so motorized, or look so pretty.
As bright and delicate as any flower
It really is the most amazing thing
If I’d not seen it, it’s the sort of thing
I’d not believe. “If there’s a carburetor
On earth, there can’t be dinosaurs, my flower,
Not even in remote and misty mountains!
And probably I’d think that you were pretty
Stupid to believe a pterodactyl
Could be alive, but, it’s a pterodactyl!
It really is! It’s not the sort of thing
I’d lie about. And why is it so pretty?
Why does it sound just like a carburetor?
Have I gone crazy, high up in the mountains?
Did I ingest some mind expanding flower?
I must have done! A mushroom or a flower…
I can’t really be seeing pterodactyls!
Perhaps it is the air up in the mountains.
That’s done some kind of terrifying thing
To me. I’m wheezing like a carburetor
That’s on the blink, but everything’s so pretty…
I think I’ve gone insane, in fact I’m pretty
Sure I have. Each blade of grass , each flower
Is psychedelic. I’m a carburetor!
I’m riding on magic pterodactyl!
And I am not afraid of anything!
That’s handy, as I’m falling down the mountains!
Last words? Well, “carburetor” isn’t pretty
I’d rather it be “mountain” yes, or “flower.”
Or “pterodactyl”. No. My last word’s “thing”.
Tom Juniper Poetry 