Thank you to all of the organizers and technology friends at Slice of Life who give us this space to blog all during March and weekly throughout the year. So much would be missing without our writing community, and it takes dedication and commitment to continue the work. You are appreciated! A huge thanks to each slicer for teaching me new things all month and sharing in the writing journey. What a gift we have in our fellow writers.
If you ever go to The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, you’ll see a circle in the floor that was cut from the old original Grand Ole Opry when it was at the Ryman Theater down near Broadway and brought to the new Opry when it was built. It looks a lot like a vinyl record album. You can read about its history here. The theme song for years at the Opry, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, is made manifest in that circle where all the greats have stood, reaching into the hearts of their audiences and singing from deep within their souls. All songs, after all, are poems set to music.
My friend and fellow writer Barb Edler at Sitting Behind the Eight Ball planted a seed for how to conclude a month of celebrating living poets the day she wrote a spine poem using the titles of the books in my poetry stack from a picture I shared. Then, the seed idea sprouted in a Cento poem from Lauren Camp’s poetry on March 29. It was as if a poet was urging me to think of the center, the truth, the room and to let the vision be as large as creation.
And so today, to conclude The Slice of Life Challenge 2026, let’s gather around the great circular slice and stand together as we invite all of the Living Poets back for a line in the multi-voiced Cento poem that features each poet throughout the month. I have taken one line of each daily poem and combined them into a collective song – to call the spirits of our poetry ancestors, the poets of today, and the future generations of poets to keep writing. What would a world be without poetry, without song, without voice? I envision each poet stepping up to the microphone to say their line, then returning to their place in the circle.
May the Circle Be Unbroken
When the earth makes a particularly hard turn
I can’t sleep at night
Glazed eyes, I go into a poem
perched on the edge of euphoric plummet
Eyes up, Arms out
Lulled by the rhythm of pewter waves
whatever your name is, you are with your own kind
Listen closely and maybe you’ll realize – it isn’t your voice
allow that it’s supposed to be in bloom right now
beneath each human move
beneath this wing
A poem is a gesture toward home
Inside the case were all the photos
we rouse ghosts
wanting in
what’s left is footage: the hours before
My life is filled with the souls of women
There are parts of you that fade with time
women in rustling skirts, old men with walkers
people on the street
They say to stay strong
I am a fortress
Maybe the poem is a cry for help
A star shoots across the sky
A tricky riddle cleverly solved
for the nonbelievers
Yesterday, you constructed an aqueduct of dreams
Never forget that
let that vision be as large as creation
That that parade of it all might ignite me
Side note: Denise Krebs also wrote a Cento using a line of each of her Stafford Challenge poems from this month so hop over to Dare to Care to read hers as well. She, Barb Edler, and Glenda Funk are the others in a small group that meets once a month to write together. These ladies are not only writing friends, but also real friends I’ve met in person and who may know me better than those who sit feet from me at work every day. Truth.
Here is the poem as it looked when I used Cento sticks to arrange it, and the order of the sticks from the underside that tell the order of each poet who wrote each line in the photo beneath this one.
Here are the poems and poets from which each line was taken throughout the month, in this order that appears above (but not in date order 1-31):
The Song of the House in the House by Joy Hard
I Worry by Wendy Cope
How Nature Calls Me by Glenis Redmond
Midnight, Talking About our Exes by Ada Limon
Undivided Attention by Kate Baer
Back to School by Amy Nemecek
Goldenrod by Maggie Smith
Whose Hate did You Swallow by Victoria Hutchins
Brazen by Marcela Sunak
Showing Up by Naomi Shihab Nye
The Cashier at the Gas Station Asks Where I’m From by Joy Sullivan
Duplex by Jericho Brown
Salvage by Miranda Cowley Heller
Who We Gonna Call by Amanda Gorman
Noche, La Casa Mag de Lena, Lamy, New Mexico by Sandra Cisneros
Providence by Natasha Trethewey
Marriage of Friends by Hannah Rosenberg
Blue by Sophie Diener
Eclogue with Paris and Prayer by Chelsea Rathburn
The Order of the Day by Billy Collins
Stay Strong by David Gate
Virginity by David Elliott
Queries of Unrest by Clint Smith
Before by Brian Rohr
An Address I’ll Forget by Sarah Kay
The Dark Doorway by Lyndsay Rush
First Snow by Arthur Sze
What Not to Say to Your Students at the Juvenile Detention Center by Nicole Stellon O’Donnell
Fear Of by Lauren Camp
Taxi by Misha Collins
Finally, here is a video of the theme song sung during the 100th anniversary celebration. Click the link below the picture and sing along as we bid farewell to the 2026 Slice of Life Challenge and invite it to journey on in our daily lives….and to return in 2027 with more voices in this great circular Slice of Life.
Click Video Link Here: Live Celebration of Will the Circle Be Unbroken
For April, please consider coming to join us for VerseLove at http://www.ethicalela.com. The party starts tomorrow, and we will be writing a poem daily through the month. If committing to an entire month seems too much right now, perhaps you can come on weekends or a couple of days a week. We’d love to have you join us! As Denise Krebs shared today: I’ll be writing poems each day in April at Ethical ELA’s #Verselove. Maybe you’ll join Kim Johnson, Glenda Funk, Sharon Roy, Margaret Simon, Rita DiCarne, Erica Johnson, Barb Edler, me, and many others. No need to sign up. Just join us here: https://www.ethicalela.com/verselove/
Common Threads 
Wow. I’m going to have to come back to chew on this some more when I’m less rushed. Thanks for all the ways that you inspired me this month, to try new forms and to read and reread the poets you spotlighted. See you on Tuesdays.
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Thank you so much, Peter. I have enjoyed writing with you this month and have a permanent image of Farley with a crown on his head. And a velvet robe.
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A WOW fromme too! You really know how to create a theme and carry it through! WOW!! I truly am better having written with you this March. Thank you. And I predict, I WILL come to Georgia one day as we have LOTS to do together! Thank you, my friend.
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Sally, I can’t wait until you can come South. We will sure have plenty to do. Thanks for reading, and I have loved writing with you this month.
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Fantastic closing piece, Kim! You touched on so many things. I love your connection to song, (and learning about the floor of the Grand Ole Opry!) Thank you for sharing your cento sticks, I really appreciate seeing a writer’s process. I also appreciate how you demonstrated a unique way to approach this March challenge. Be well, I look forward to seeing you on Tuesdays.
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Thank you, Fran! I’ve enjoyed this month of writing together and can’t wait to keep the momentum going on Tuesdays~
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This entire slice stirred many emotions about this month’s writing challenge. This is my favorite line in your magnificent cento: “…whatever your name is, you are with your own kind…” Throughout my life, I’ve often felt outside the circle; but writing with you and the other slicers have made me feel part of the circle for the first time in a long time.
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Lori, thank you so much for reading! I’ve enjoyed getting to know you by Zoom and writing and look forward to Tuesdays as we continue writing together. I know what you mean about the power of a writing community and feeling a sense of belonging. There is a certain magic here.
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Kim,
This is the best cento of the month. It’s in keeping with my vision of a cento as a poem that brings together many poets, generally around a theme. There’s a cento poetry picture book my committee received last year. It’s one we named as a notable. I think the title is “Forests.” I need to check. I love your circle imagery and your icon for the moth. Tomorrow will bring a new surprise and more poetry inspiration. Thanks for the shoutout and mostly for the friendship. It’s such a blessing.
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Thank you for all the comments, the reading, the writing together, the texts, the fun photos, the everything, mainly friendship. I can’t wait to spend time in Portland breathing the air of poets – – I think I need to find the Forests book….that will be a real treat.
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You’ve given us a treasure chest of poetry this month that we can come back to for ideas and for books of poetry to look up.
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Thank you so much, Diane! Cheers for upcoming Tuesdays!
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Thank you for sharing your love of poetry with us this month! It’s been beautiful to read your poems and learn more about other poets. Today’s poem was wonderful. Congrats for making it to Day 31! Until next time…
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Thank you, Aggie! I can’t wait to continue on with the Tuesday slicing. I’ve enjoyed writing with you this month!
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Oh my goodness! Bravo, Kim. This is amazing, and the culmination of dazzling us all month with your chosen poets and magnificent centos. I am in awe of your poetic prowess. You have enriched my life this March.
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