I was out walking this morning past the cemetery of the Grand Army of the Republic and thinking about my inauguration poem when I saw this memorial. It's across the lane from the cemetery, which might be why I don't remember seeing it.

The walk was good, and I decided that my poem needed to have a refrain. Then I thought that it could be a sestina! That would give it some form, and the refrain would take care of one line in every stanza. When I came home I began to write.

And then I checked Martha's helpful blog post again and found a few more rules. The poem needs to be an ode and it needs to be in four quatrains. Rats! No sestina. It also needs to include three of the following words: honor, integrity, faith, hope, change, power. I'd had honor covered in a line and hope as an end word, but my other end words were light, morning, go, turning, and far.

(Power? My poem will not include the word power.)

Back to the writing board.

How about you? Are you working on an inauguration ode?