Chill (Cento)
I shiver a little, with the evening,
and you print a shadow like a thin twig.
Wait for my death, then hear me again.
He believes a pomegranate is a thesaurus,
the thundercloud, tomorrow’s puddle. Is
this hunger unlike that of others?
When a drowning man calls out,
his voice follows him downstream.
Why am I grown so cold?
A cento is composed of lines borrowed from other poets. “Chill” owes its existence to: James Wright, H.D., Ingeborg Bachmann, Eduardo C. Corral, Blaga Dimitrova, Forrest Gander, Yusuf Komunyakaa, and Adelaide Crapsey.
O at the Edges 
Thank you Man! This was lovely – todays eyeball, tomorrows tear.
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It was my pleasure. I’m so pleased it strikes a chord with you.
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Very clever and nicely done
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Thank you, Richard.
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Every seed is a word that means something else.
Beautiful remix and I love the image.
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Or every word is a seed… 🙂 Thanks, T.S.
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Love this. Thanks for sharing it.
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Thanks, Jo. I’m happy it resonates with you.
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I love this poem!
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Thank you, Kim.
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You are more than welcome 😊
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Ahhh, superb! I love the chill here.
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Thank you. I prefer a little chill in my days.
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love this – so – just had to look up “cento” and amazed to read this is a form of poetry hundreds and hundreds of years old – such an interesting idea – the challenge of choosing and assembling – and now feeling inspired to try this
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I enjoy taking lines from one context and placing them in another. You should try it!
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…I particularly connected to “drowning man calling out…his voice carrying downstream.” Bravo…this has an ominous air about it… 😦 !
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YK’s line. While harvesting lines for centos, I come to know the originating poems much more intimately.
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Like re-arranging molecular structure, isn’t it? Coming up with new compounds. You are master chemist!
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Ha! Slightly less complicated, but much fun, and challenging in its own way. 🙂
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Don’t sell your skills short. Words and emotions and how they’re combined are more complicated than anything else!
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I love assembling centos, but always feel like I’m cheating just a little.
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My favorite among the lines you have chosen for this amazing cento is “He believes a pomegranate is a thesaurus”.
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Isn’t that a wonderful line?
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Definitely!
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Very cool!
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Thank you, Daniel. I thought it was just chilly. 🙂
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Wow. Can you spare an ounce of your word-wise insightfulness?! 🙂
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Take as much as you like (I borrowed it, along with the words).
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Wow, loved this poem and learnt about Cento 🙂 Thanks for sharing this amazing piece and thank you for liking my poem “The Raven Cries”. So glad to have discovered your blog.
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So pleased you like it. Thanks very much.
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A pomegranate should be a thesaurus!! Great poem!
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I agree! So glad you like the poem. Thank you.
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