Keesha's House

A majority of the book’s poems use the sestina form. The sestina was likely invented by Anaut Daniel––a 12th-century European troubadour. Troubadours recited their verses to music. The sestina features six stanzas of six lines (a sestet) and a seventh stanza featuring three lines (an envoi). The form repeats the same end-words to create the following pattern:

Line 1: ABCDEF

Line 2: FAEBDC

Line 3: CFDABE

Line 4: ECBFAD

Line 5: DEACFB

Line 6: BDFECA

The envoi has some flexibility. It can go ACE or ECA, but it must also feature the other three end words at some point. Traditional sestinas follow a meter—a set pattern of unstressed-stressed syllables—but Frost forgoes meter, allowing the teen characters a greater range of expression. They can narrate their feelings and actions, and Frost doesn’t cut them off due to a syllable count.

As only the teen characters use the sestina, the form represents their agility and resilience. The words can return and slide into different places, just as the teens can confront their difficult experiences and adapt to diverse contexts. Conversely, the sestina reflects the disorderly construct of life. The teens battle life and its unplanned twists. They must display resolve to keep themselves safe and composed. The sestina has a frenetic energy, and even with a guide, it can be challenging to keep track of which word should appear at the end of any given line.

In Part 8, the teen characters switch to Italian sonnets—specifically, a crown of Italian sonnets. Italian sonnets are also known as Petrarchan sonnets, as 14th-century Italian lawyer Francesco Petrarca developed the form. The Italian sonnet has 14 lines, and the following rhyme scheme: ABBA, ABBA, CDECDE (or CDCDCD). Frost’s Italian sonnets approximate iambic pentameter, so the lines have five sets of unstressed-stressed syllables. Harris states, “There’s light ahead of me as I walk on” (108). “[T]here’s” is not stressed, but “light” is; “a” is not stressed, but “head” is; “of” is not stressed, but “me” is; “as” is not stressed, but “I” is; “walk” is not stressed, but “on” is.

The transition from sestinas to Italian sonnets suggests maturity. By the end of the story, the teens have a better sense of who they are, so the more concise Italian sonnet replaces the commotion of the sestina. Since Frost makes the Italian sonnets a crown, she explicitly links the teen characters by having one character start their poem where the previous character ends theirs. Dontay’s poem ends, “Three months. That’s a mountain I can climb” (106). Carmen’s poem begins, “Three months now on this mountain. I can climb” (107). The crown reinforces the communal atmosphere of the teen characters. They share experiences, and they share lines.

In Part 6, the poems from the adults use the English sonnet, which contains 14 lines, iambic pentameter, and the following rhyme scheme: ABABCDCDEFEFGG. The English sonnet is also known as the Shakespearean sonnet, as the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616) popularized the form. Compared to sestinas and Italian sonnets, English sonnets have more control and order, reflecting the power imputed to adults. The alternating rhyme scheme and the final rhyme create a snappy pattern, and the adults in the narrative can seem set in their ways. Jason’s coach has difficulty imagining him not being a star basketball player. Harris’s mother can’t break the status quo and stand up to her anti-gay husband. For adult characters like Joe and Roberta (Carmen’s grandmother), the pattern is positive, highlighting their holistic reliability.

As the poems in Part 3 feature hybrid sonnets—that is, Frost combines elements of Italian and English sonnets—the adults express complexity. While they can be stubborn or seem unsympathetic, not all adults are adversarial: They can be flexible, like the hybrid form. Dontay’s foster father realizes that he should adjust his emphasis on rules to make Dontay feel more welcome, and Keesha’s dad expresses his wish to battle his substance use disorder so Keesha will return home.