An Orderly Form

I just finished reading an article about sestinas. Serendipity. Earlier in the day I thought of applying myself to the arduous task of writing a sestina. The more I read , the more I realized that using that particular poetry form means agreeing to transparency.

The poet unveils a process. Lucinda Roy writes, "In sestinas, things aren't resolved ; rather, they are experienced in a shifting light."

Roy uses words like momentum. The poem gathers a certain impulsion as the poet proceeds toward an ending. Does the poet wait upon the conclusion or is it determined by the layers that precede the last three lines?

Of course there's always the question of what words to use as the end words since these words will repeat, although in a different order, in each of the stanzas.

A conundrum, but worthy of the time.