Throughout the month of March, I’m celebrating a living poet each day. The living poet I’m reading today is Naomi Shihab Nye, and her collection of poems I’m using is Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners. I’m writing Cento poems, which are lines of existing poetry that are taken and put together to form a new poem, much like making a patchwork quilt.
Naomi Shihab Nye’s line from a poem was featured as last year’s National Poetry Month poet by Poems.org (if you have not requested your free one for this year, request it here before they run out – and you can also download it for a letter-size poster. I was pleasantly surprised that a former student from the school district where I work was the artist for last year’s poster. You can read about the artist Christy Mandin here.
When I read the full poem Gate A-4 by Nye from last year’s poster, my mind went back to the Albuquerque airport – the Sunport, from which we had flown back home to Georgia after driving half of Route 66 in June of 2024. That’s a small airport, and it’s the reason we chose it to fly home. When we do the other part of Route 66, we will fly into Los Angeles and out of Albuquerque, basically having completed Route 66 from both ends to the middle from each direction. In any case, I was seated on the wall opposite the check-in desks, and I could envision the entire scene of the poem playing out. It warmed my heart in all the best ways. I’d been right there. Right in that spot where the action in the poem happened. And I was grateful for the memory of being there to be able to “see” it so clearly. My Cento poem today is rooted in the bad news for the woman in the poem at Gate A-4. My last line is in response to how Naomi herself took the bad news and made it good.
Poets will do that.
You can read more about Naomi Shihab Nye here. As a member of the Stafford Challenge who will attend the first poetry conference in Oregon this June, you can believe that one of the speakers I’m most looking forward to hearing is Naomi Shihab Nye. I hear her appearances are rare, which already has me anticipating what a treasure of a moment this will be.
Bad News
What can you expect?
News loves to be bad
Poured full of ripe language
beneath each human move
What surprised you lately?
Lines for this cento were taken from these poems: The Tent; Moment of Relief; After Listening to Paul Durcan, Ireland; Showing Up; Where do Poets find Images?
Common Threads 
First, thanks for the link to the free poster! As department chair, I plan to print and give to each ELA. Second, now I am jealous of you getting to hear Naomi!! Many years ago, she did a keynote at Teachers College I got to hear. Just reading her name in this Slice, I immediately hear her voice! I adore the Gate A-4 story! Loved reading how you seat at that airport! And I love your poem, too. So much to love about your Slice today! Thanks!!
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Kim,
This might be my favorite cento this month. It captures the news cycle perfectly and does it w/ a shrug. I too am excited about our Stafford conference and all the poets we’ll get to hear. When you do the lady half of Route 65, I encourage you to drive from NM to LA. Otherwise you’re starting at the end, the Santa Monica Pier. And you must go to California Adventure if only for the “Cars” experience.
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