An attempt to expand my writing skill
To write a sestina, tricky and delicate
Sometimes poetry demands much order
This is no small example
At least the poem doesn't have to rhyme
But care must be taken all the same

After this, nothing will seem quite the same
Free verse requires a different kind of skill
Not needing to make the endings rhyme
Yet working in cadence is still a delicate
task most times, this is a bad example
since I'm trying to keep these lines in order
And while I write these lines in order
I'm coming to realize that it's much the same
as writing a sonnet, you can find an example
somewhere nearby, when I tested my skill
writing 'Quest', weaving schemes so delicate
to try and keep the italian rhyme

I already know why poems rhyme
it's all about rhythm and order
That gives a poem that might seem delicate
some weight behind it, and that's the same
reason behind this exercise in skill
To give myself my own example

Of why all poets, Keats, for example,
Demand our respect, regardless of rhyme
It's a poets skill
to master both chaos and order
With short stanzas, but they aren't the same
as me, and that's a point that's delicate

Because I'm a hack, no, don't be delicate
This poem lacks subtly, for example
I talk of Keats, as if he's the same
As an Irish guy who hacks at rhyme
Barely able to keep this sestina in order
All this just to test my skill

This last bit's delicate, no, it doesn't rhyme
This is the best example of order
All the same, I hope this may hint at skill