Sestina: Operation Memory

For my sestina poem, I chose Operation Memory by David Lehman, which you can find here.

A sestina is a poem in which the initial six end-words of the first stanza are repeated (in different order) as the end words of the five following six-line stanzas. The seventh and final stanza is a three-line envoi which includes all six words. Lehmen altars the form a little by making one of the six end-words a number which changes to a different number in each stanza, but the general concept is still there.

In Operation Memory, the speaker recounts being drafted into the military and the ultimate effects of his experience. The poem has a melancholic, defeated tone that emphasizes and often augments the loss of faith felt by the speaker. It utilizes extensive enjambment, which seems to be an inherent part of a poem with such restrictive form. Enjambment is the continuation of a sentence or clause over a line break. This can lend a heightened sense of excitement or anticipation and create a greater effect. An example of this from the second stanza: "All my friends had jobs / As professional liars." The first part of this phrase is a statement on its own, but as it continues on the next line, it furthers its meaning and provides greater insight into the speaker's purpose. In this way he demonstrates the bleak emotional numbness inflicted by the "war that had never been declared."