Day 2 of the Slice of Life Challenge has me feeling energized with all of the fabulous writing that bloggers are sharing at Two Writing Teachers for the 2026 Slice of Life Challenge, where writers share daily snapshots of meaningful moments of their lives. You can check it out here.
My theme for this month was inspired by a friend who recently sent me a book she’d read (The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali). Thanks, Glenda Funk! Glenda said that she passes most of her books on, but she keeps poetry. It got me thinking about the living poets who are part of The Stafford Challenge and other writing groups like Poetry Friday. Perhaps I could expand my own collection of living poets – and that became a mission.
And so I set out to take a hard look at a diverse range of living poets. I discovered that no matter who we are – male, female, of all ethnicities and heritages, of urban or rural settings, of all religions and ages and places in the world – we all need poetry. Especially now. Especially in these times. Some of us read it, some of us write it, and many of us read and write it.
I decided to feature a living poet each day, celebrating their work and using their poems to create Cento poetry by taking lines of their existing poems and weaving together a whole new poem. You can read more about Cento here.
Today, I celebrate Brian Rohr, author of Shaken To My Bones: A Poetic Midrash on the Torah.
Brian Rohr started The Stafford Challenge, now in its third year of inviting poets to come together and to write a poem every day for one year. You can read more about Brian at his website. I’ve taken his collection of poems and formed a Cento poem, and I’ve listed the names of the poems I used, in order, beneath the poem.
When God Speaks
A star shoots across the sky.
Blue and red birds appear in my birch tree.
A bird with a blue head and blue wings flies past my window.
There are ways God speaks to me.
We can see the breath.
Taken from: Before; My Longing; Outside it is Raining; I am Joseph; In the Cool Air of the Morning Mist.
Common Threads 
Rather than speak to you poem, even though it is heartfelt, I am responding to your line, “we all need poetry. Especially now. Especially in these times. Some of us read it, some of us write it, and many of us read and write it.” I’m one who found poetry a “shorter way to write” because of its forced, deliberate word choice. I’ve written at least a poem a day thanks to the Stafford Challenge but many I have not publishes. Poetry seems to help me process the deep and complex feelings I have about American and world political events and the use of force to solve problems. Anyway, your writing always gets me thinking.
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Thank you so much for these kind words. Just today, I pulled a list of the Poets Laureate from each US state and plan to dive deep into who they are and what they have written. I feel my batteries charging with excitement as I go to my library’s hold site and arrange these interlibrary loans!
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Breathtaking cento with Brian’s words. I love this idea for putting more poetry into our hearts.
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Thank you, Margaret!
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Cento poems are such a delight to write. I love yours honoring Brian’s poetry. The Stafford Challenge is fun but also daunting. I think keeping a pile of books of poetry surrounding me is helpful when I get stuck on an idea. Can’t wait to read your posts this month to learn more. I’m sure my husband will frown with the influx of books I plan to buy this month.
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Barb, I’m doing interlibrary loans this month. They’re either going to love me for increasing the circulation or not like me so much for all the extra work on transporting books…..but I want to read them all and can’t quite afford that level of budgeting. So……here goes!
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You have convinced me to try a Cento poem and I love that you share the works you are reading. Totally agree with the role of poetry in life and especially today’s world. Great idea…thanks for sharing.
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Rita, thank you so much for these words. I’m glad I could inspire a Cento!
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Kim,
I hope you send this tribute to Brian. I need to order his collection. That last line and all the nature imagery is so beautiful, truly comforting. You are going deep into these collections. That’s an amazing feat.
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Kim, thanks for the little teachings you do in your posts–about Slice of Life, centos, the need for poetry, and, of course, Brian’s book. I love the last two lines together in your cento. Did you share the link to this with Brian Rohr?
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What a gift you’ve created! Not only have you introduced me to a new poet, but you’ve also written a beautiful poem yourself. I love the ways you describe God speaking to us, and love the connection between that line and “we can see the breath”. Thank you!
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