Biography (Cento)
I am becoming
one of the old
men, but you,
you are earth.
Where is the moment
that lingers,
the static of lost
voices and the feel
of the cleft in the bark.
Ask me anything.
Why am I
grown so cold?
Have you been here?
Thinking
is wind in a cage;
it does not say anything.
* * *
Credits:
James Wright, Cesare Pavese, Ruth Ellen Kocher, HD, Eduardo C. Corral,
Adelaide Crapsey, Denise Levertov, Blaga Dimitrova, Jacques Roubaud,
* * *
A cento is composed of lines from poems by other poets.
For further information and examples of the form, you might peruse the Academy of American Poets site: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/poetic-form-cento
This first appeared here in September 2016.
O at the Edges 
A gorgeous conglomerate, Bob. I especially like
Thinking
is wind in a cage;
it does not say anything
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Thanks, Cate. I wish I’d written those lines.
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Thought provoking
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Thanks, Derrick. Those lines demanded to be used.
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Great work as always. Your Centos inspire me.
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Thanks very much, John. I really enjoyed your cento “Ghost Light.”
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This is great.
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Thank you, Dana. I’d like to write more centos. Hmm. Maybe the next project…
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I sounds very original to your style, Robert.
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Thank you. I enjoy working on these, especially since I come to know the source poems better.
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It’s like a puzzle. “you are earth”–those are the words that cling to me. That’s HD? (K)
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They’re actually from Cesare Pavese.
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Thanks! I don’t know is work, I’ll check it out.
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A major Italian poet active in the first half of the 20th century. Really interesting.
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Ah but I think you know all too well they say so much!
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All I can do is try. 🙂
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Amazing truth of life.lovely.
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Thank you, Aruna.
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Cleverly written Robert, it read like you were reading my palm 🤔
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Almost. Ha.
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Oh my gosh — “Thinking is wind in a cave” — !!!
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Isn’t that a great line? I had to use it!
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Thank you so much, I enjoyed your cento and I am going to write one also! So cool. I love it.
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They’re much fun, Kelly.
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I’m still working on it…..
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I’d love to read it when you’re ready to share.
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