poetry

(not really) a Cento

Sally

i have never traveled

So much depends
Upon
The fog
a ribbon of moonlight
the dew on the morning grass
the snow carefully everywhere descending

somewhere, gladly beyond
a smaller gift — not the worn truth
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
the world offers itself to your imagination

Line 1 and Line 8 — e.e. cummings — together these two lines make one complete line “somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond”

Lines 2 and 3 from a William Carlos Williams’ poem that nobody understands but is forced on high school students across the USA.

Line 4 Carl Sandburg — first line of the first poem I remember intentionally memorizing

Line 5 Alfred Noyes — not a full line, but from The Highwayman, the first poem I voluntarily memorized just because I liked it and was smitten by the tragedy of the story. Anne of Green Gables also memorized it, but I didn’t even know AoGG existed at the time.

Line 6 Billy Collins — not a full line, but from Litany — just a poem I love

Line 7 e.e. cummings again

Line 9 also Billy Collins — not a full line, but from The Lanyard — a poem one of my sons sent me for Mother’s Day one year.

Line 10 e.e. cummings — I LOVE e.e. cummings

Line 11 Mary Oliver — not a full line from Wild Geese — a poem one of my sons read at my father’s funeral

A weak attempt at the W3 prompt this week: Write a Cento on the them of Love.

A cento is a poem formed of lines from poems written by others. I didn’t use whole lines most of the time.

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Published by Sally

11 thoughts on “(not really) a Cento”

      1. I realize that I didn’t really go with the theme of Love. This form was hard for me — and I’m still not 100% sure I like the poem. Maybe I’ll go back and play with it some more. 🙂

  4. I know—it seems easy until you start crafting it, right?! What I like is being able to use already written words to create something that I would have said excepting someone said it before me so now I get to quote them.
    Most of my poems are work in progress, what I start with is often not what I end up posting. Looking forward to reading the revised version Shelly. Write ✍️ on poet 🙂🎉🙂

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  5. This was very good! And I loved your annotation as much as the poem! I remember having to memorize e.e. cummings’ The Fog in school too… but I preferred his poem – pity this busy monster, manunkind…

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