Resurrection (Cento)
Everything we love
returns to the ground.
Each syllable is the work of sabotage,
a breeze seeping from the heart of the rocks.
They are my last words
or what I intend my last words to be.
I think just how my shape will rise,
a miracle, anywhere light moves.
*****
A cento is composed of lines borrowed from other poets. “Resurrection” owes its existence to the poetry of Tishani Doshi, Paul Auster, Antonella Anedda, Sean Hill,
Emily Dickinson, and Ruth Ellen Kocher. I urge you to seek out their work. It astounds!
Beautifully done.
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Thanks, Emily!
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The form’s new to me. Thanks for introducing me to it. Beautiful poem.
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Thank you. It is an interesting, challenging form. You can read more about it here: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poetic-form-cento
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I agree with Ellen.
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Thanks, Simon.
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I really like this concept and theme. The cyclical nature of life fits perfectly with the repurposed lines, literally and metaphorically. Well done!
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Thanks very much. Cycles have been on my mind lately.
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“Each syllable is the work of sabotage….’ that is a great line! Thanks for “cento-ing” it! 🙂
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Paul Auster’s line!
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Wow, these are extraordinarily beautiful, not unlike “your” poetry. If it’s not too time-consuming, could you name the poems, Bob? If not, not a big deal. Happy Sunday!
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Thanks, Leigh. Titles, and books:
Tishani Doshi: from “Memory of Wales,” in Everything Begins Elsewhere.
Paul Auster: “I,” from “Unearth,” in Disappearances: Selected Poems.
Antonella Anedda: from “Archipelago (heart failure),” in Archipelago.
Sean Hill: from “Postcard to Nostalgia” in Dangerous Goods.
Emily Dickinson: 237 in The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. by Johnson.
Ruth Ellen Kocher: from “Craft” in One Girl Babylon.
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Your gift with elements of thought shines, here. Very inspiring–and well woven. Thank you for sharing this.
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Thanks, Bob. So nice of you to list titles AND books; I really appreciate it. Don’t think I have any of these, except some volumes of Dickinson.
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Thanks, Meredith. I enjoy working with the form.
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You’re welcome, Leigh. My taste (and collection) is rather eclectic. 🙂
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good stuff.
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Thanks, John.
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Amazing lines… lovely! Thanks, Robert. 🙂
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I wish I’d written the lines, but I merely harvested them. 🙂
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🙂
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This alone astounds – what a creative work of others into this your own – not easy I imagine. Yes, I will look at some to the poets/writers you mention. Thank you for sharing.
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It helps to have a few books lying around… 🙂
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I has not heard of this genre. It sounds interesting and beautiful poems may be created this way, like the one you posted here. Thanks!
Jim
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It’s a challenging and interesting means of composing poetry.
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Sorry, I meant “I had not heard. . . .”
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Creative composition. Really interesting approach, Robert!
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It’s fun. The most challenging aspect is producing something that sounds as if it could have been written by me. You should try it, Kate.
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Would love it. What a great excuse to immerse yourself in poetry!
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Yes, and I’ve found that I read the poems the lines come from with renewed enthusiasm, and perhaps at a deeper level. A bonus that I’d never considered.
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Thanks for your time to read my story on “Steiru Pass!” and life it
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I enjoyed your story. Thanks for sharing.
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You welcome, i write daily short story ^^
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I didn’t know there was such a thing as a cento. Very interesting idea, as is the poem you “built.” Maybe taking syllables from the poems is an act of “sabotage” in way. Kind of like the cento is about how you make a cento. Maybe you did not mean it like that but my imagination does.
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What you found in the poem is all that matters. It’s an intriguing form, one that I’m just getting comfortable with.
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I’ll be eager to see what cento you create next!
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There are a handful of centos here – you can search for “centos” and they should pop up.
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I will seek what you recommend my friend 🙂 awesome words and pictures.
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Each of the poets whose lines I used are special. And thank you.
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Goodnight and God bless.
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My favorite line is “a breeze seeping from the heart of the rocks.”
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From my favorite contemporary Italian poet, Antonella Anedda.
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Is the line translated or does she write in English as well as Italian?
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From a translation by Jamie McKendrick. I believe she’s translated English language books into Italian, but McKendrick did these.
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Beautiful!
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Thanks, George.
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Wow, I once did that with lines from Van Morrison 🙂 I didn’t know I was creating a cento. What I like in this one is the mixing of the organic with the spoken/written word. And that amazing photo.
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The photos are from morguefile.com, the source of most of the photos I use. One of these days I’ll assemble one from song lyrics.
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Beautiful!
I’ve learned so much from your posts, Robert, from haibun to cento to ham fried rice. Thank you.
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Next up: chicken fried sonnets!
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Can’t wait!
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Wonderful, Robert! A perfect blend!
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Thank you, Dorinda.
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You’re welcome 🙂
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The last two lines are exquisite!
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Thank you. A combination of Emily Dickinson and Ruth Ellen Kocher.
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A new form to me, too. Beautiful.
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Glad you like it!
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You’re quite the cat burglar! Or word mashup artist. I didn’t know about this form, but I’m pleased that you do it so well.
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I’m quite shameless! 🙂
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Please follow back
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Thanks for stopping by, Yvonne.
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Thanks
Please advertise my blog
You got such nice work
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Education through poetry — thank you! 🙂
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You’re very welcome, Carrie.
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A cento I learned many years ago:
Breathes there a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said
Shoot if you must this old grey head
But give us today our daily bread!
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Ha!
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Thank you, Robert. I’d never heard of centos before, but I like the fact that, according to Wikipedia, the word cento comes from the Greek and means “to plant slips” in the sense of slip=small cutting. Well, well.
Do you know the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss cover of the Sam Phillips song “Sister Rosetta goes before us,” where ‘slips’ of Sister Rosetta’s words are sewn into the body of the song. Not quite the same, I know, but a gorgeous song. (Reminded of it on Desert Island Discs last Friday, so it’s at the front of my mind.)
Thanks again, for teaching me something new and fascinating
Elaine
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You’re very welcome. The form is much fun, and quite challenging.
Yes, I do know that version of the song (have long been a fan of Alison Krauss, and, well, Led Zep), and that album is a favorite.
Thank. you for dropping by!
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I’d say that there was a poetry to Led Zeppelin – or at least the version of themselves they were able to live out in America. Was watching the Madison Square Garden performance of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ the other day and there’s something of Dionysus inhabiting Mr Plant.
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Plant, and I think Jim Morrison, too. But the younger Plant was something, wasn’t he? And the older Plant hasn’t lost much either.
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True. We didn’t get to see them much, on this side of the Atlantic and they seemed to expand somehow when they hit your shores. It’s impressive watching Robert Plant in his early 20s. He’s the green fuse in pure action. Life itself.
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The green fuse, indeed!
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You have a beautiful way with words. 🙂
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You are very kind. Thank you.
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Stumbled across your blog after you liked my poem (thank you so much for that!), and I absolutely loved this one! Beautiful! 🙂
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So pleased to have found your blog, and that you made your way to mine. Thank you.
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