I’m celebrating living poets this month as I write each day during March and share my blog on http://www.twowritingteachers.org during the Slice of Life Challenge. With each living poet’s work, I’m creating a cento by taking their existing lines of poetry from a selected collection and arranging them into a new poem. Arthur Sze is the current US Poet Laureate, and today I’m using his book Sight Lines. You can read more about him here.
Strawberry Breakfast
Yesterday, you constructed an aqueduct of dreams
dozens of tiny flames flickering into darkness
An unglazed pot fired and streaked from ash
Early morning light: a young red-tailed hawk
in cool Alpine air
in daylight, snow has accumulated
crossing the street, you hear the cry of a strawberry finch
the unfolding of a life has junctures
Each line was taken from existing poems in Sight Lines and arranged into an entirely new poem, in this order: First Snow; Spring: Winter Stars; Under a Rising Moon; Dawn Redwood; The Radiant’s; The Glass Constellation; In the Bronx; The Far Norway Maples.
Occasionally, people ask me about my process for writing Cento poems. I tell them about my homemade Cento sticks. As I read collections of poetry, I write lines I like onto large tongue depressors using Sharpie markers. On the back, I write the title of the poem and the poet. Next, I select lines I love and put them in a new order. You can see a video here and here, then see a finished product below. I also frequently mix poets together, but this month, I’m using lines from single collections by living poets. Try writing a cento! You’ll be amazed at how just moving one single line can change everything and put the world on a whole new axis.
Lines for this Cento poem were taken from these poems, in this order:
Common Threads 
“…the unfolding of a life has junctures…” – I love that line! The title reminded me of my dinner tonight (which I am looking forward to), Strawberry Fields Salad, from BJ’s Brewhouse. A friend is treating my husband and me and picking it up and delivering it to us so we don’t have to cook while I convalesce!
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That is pure love to bring food when it is most needed. I know you are looking forward to this, and what a great sounding salad. Enjoy!
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Your process is cool! Using those tongue depressors is genius! Kids would probably love to do a similar activity to write found poetry.
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Thank you, Tracey! Jenga blocks with words work wonders too.
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So many amazing images, Kim. I’m going to hold on to an “aquaduct of dreams.” And the red shouldered hawks as I saw a pair this morning.
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Thank you, Sharon, and thanks for the congrats – – no, it isn’t too soon. I’m 99 percent certain I will be retiring August 1. Then I can read War and Peace 🙂
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Ha! I highly recommend waiting until Jan 1st and joining Simon Haisell’s slow read on Substack. He provides great resources—a post each day that includes a painting and his summary of the chapter and his Footnotes and Tangents—articles on all kinds of things related to the chapter. Today’s was about ritual. And there’s a lovely chat each day where readers from all over the world, post thoughts, questions, musical connections—and haikus—ha.
Happy for you, Kim!
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“The unfolding of a life has junctures” is such a poignant line. My daughter is experiencing one today. She lost her job. I am feeling very angry about this. She is amazing and wonderful, and sometimes life isn’t fair. Thanks for this poem today. I pray this juncture will be a place of growth for her.
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Margaret, I am so sorry. That really does anger a mother when a child – even adult child – has been dealt an unfair hand in something. I’ll pray for peace and all the right doors to open. The Good Lord has a plan.
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Kim,
I love that collection. I need to revisit it. It’s so inspiring. The line “the unfolding of a life has junctures” reminds me of Sharon’s poem about retirement today. Life really is filled with crossroads. I can feel a poem forming in my head as I ponder that line.
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Thank you, Glenda! I think of the milestones as junctures. I, too, ponder it in the grand scheme of things.
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That last line, oh my. As life unfolds, there are infinite small and large punctures where we sometimes can choose but often the choice is not ours.
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Kim, I have never heard of Sze before. Thanks for introducing him. I’m wondering how you pronounce that last name. Anyway, I love your poem, especially the way it opens and closes. I’m particularly fond of “the unfolding of a life has junctures”. Ain’t that the truth!
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I just preordered his upcoming book. I bought The Glass Constellation as an eBook because it was cheaper and I could always carry it with me. Such a great poetic voice that includes so much science.
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The last line of your cento is a keeper, so full of meaning, “the unfolding of a life has juncture.” It speaks to the complexity of life.
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