Welcome to Day 9 of the Slice of Life Challenge! I’m spending my month slicing about the living poets whose collections I enjoy reading – and using one of their collections to write Cento poetry, composed of existing lines reworked to form a new poem. Today, I’m sharing a Cento taken from the lines of poems in Maggie Smith’s collection entitled Goldenrod.
Maggie Smith appears in an interview here as a graduate of OSU.
Becoming
I am becoming my mother here
crossing a field, wading.
If you feel yourself receding, receding,
whatever your name is, you are with your own kind.
When are we most ourselves, and when the least?
My Cento poem features lines taken from these poems, in this order: Slipper, Threshold, Poem Beginning with a Retweet; Goldenrod; Ohio Cento.
Common Threads 
Fascinating! All three: the poem concept, the topic and the final result. Thank you!
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Thank you so much for reading!
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Thanks for add the link. I enjoyed meeting this poet through the Ohio State article. Using her lines, you crafted a poem that is still lingering for me. A sign of a great writing!
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Thank you so much, Sally! Some of these poets will have me going down a rabbit hole to find more and more of their work. I love the thrill of the discoveries and so happy we are writing together this month. Loved, loved, loved your post today on the sentences of Allen Levi!
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“When are we most ourselves, when the least?” I can see why you held onto that line. That’s one to linger over. I love the way you used the receding, receding line after “wading.” That has a very peaceful flow. This will stick with me today. I need to read some Maggie Smith.
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Thank you for reading today. I’m loving the exploration of living poets. The bad part is I can’t wait for their next books. The great part is that they are alive to write their next books that I can’t wait to read.
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I love the reflection in this piece. That question at the end, “When are we most ourselves, and when the least?” really stayed with me. It’s such an interesting way to think about identity and how we change over time.
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Thank you for reading! Cheers for Spring Break with your little one!
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Ooo, I love Maggie Smith’s poetry. I subscribe to her substack and have her book on writing “Dear Writer.” Highly recommend. My challenge to my writing group last week was to write a poem using the word “becoming.” I could use the line “I am becoming my mother.” I see her every day in my mirror.
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Margaret, thank you and I really do love Maggie Smith. I’m finding that I want to read more and more of certain poets, and she is one of them. Nicole Stellon O’Donnell is another, and of course I dan’t wait for Joy Sullivan’s next book. Kate Baer is another one I can’t seem to get enough of……I am going to continue down the living poets trail after SOLC and VerseLove. I’m really enjoying the discoveries. And I will have way more time to explore after August 1 this year…..IYKYK.
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Kim,
You can’t go wrong with Maggie Smith poems and collections. Her new one, A Suit or a Suitcase, comes out March 24. I love the way “Goldenrod” explores identity and what makes us who we are. The Cento lines are perfect, and that ending question is thought provoking. It’s one all women must confront. I wish I had an answer.
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Thank you, Glenda! I wish I had one too. This exploration of living poets is proving to take me down many more trails of reading than I had imagined. I see why you keep your poetry books now – – – I am finding that I almost have to order the poetry books because there are not enough curations out there in libraries that offer all the books I want to read. I do have 18 on hold at the library, but the more obscure titles are hard to find except by mail order.
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Oh, I love Maggie Smith’s “Good Bones” poem. Thank you for giving me even more of her work. I was thinking of you and your mother in your cento today. Peace.
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Thank you, Denise! I do find myself becoming her in so many ways.
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Kim, I always scroll down and down and down to find your blog post, and I am so glad I did not miss this one! I love this cento project! I hadn’t heard of Maggie Smith’s poems – but I will read them intensely now! Thank you! I’m reading Theo of Golden on your recommendation!
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Thank you so much! I am truly enjoying the pathways of poets I am finding myself on this month – – I’m finding there are so many whose words are like cozy blankets. I’m hoping you are enjoying Theo. If you ever come to Georgia, call me and we’ll have coffee in Fountain City Coffee in Columbus. It’s the place that started it all. This book is a new favorite. After revisiting Nicole Stellon O’Donnell earlier this month, I received Steam Laundry today, a book of poems in a narrative format that tells the story of Sarah Ellen Gibson, who went with her husband to Alaska during the Gold Rush. I am over the moon excited to read it.
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