Crown of Sonnets

I just finished reading A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson, a collection of 15 interconnected sonnets using the "heroic crown of sonnets" form. (Fifteen interlinked sonnets where the last line of one becoms the first line, sometimes slightly altered, of the next, and the last sonnet is made up of the first lines of the preceding fourteen.) Anyone familiar with this form and/or know of any other good examples?

In this case, the poet (in the introduction) says she used the strict form as "a kind of insulation, a way of protecting myself from the intense pain of the subject matter" (the murder/lynching of Emmett Till in 1955).

I have to say that it's a beautiful series of poems, despite the subject matter . . . though maybe it's just the place I'm in mentally right now . . . Last week I finished October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Lesléa Newman . . . another incredible series of poems about a martyred boy.

I have always wanted to try a crown of sonnets. Joan Larkin has a beautiful and sad crown of sonnets in her book "A Long Sound."

Mary McCray
http://www.bigbangpoetry.com

After my original post, I did find some interesting variations on the Crown of Sonnets . . . most notably, by Marilyn Hacker in Love, death, and the changing of the seasons
http://www.librarything.com/work/8097/92406802
and Jenny Factor in Unraveling at the name
http://www.librarything.com/work/1126025/92303594

I'm not a poet myself, but I do find this structure particularly intriguing . . .