I cull and offer this and this,
and these last definite whorls
or later star or flower, such
rare dark in another world,
outdistancing us, madness
upon madness, the crest
and hollow, the lift and fall,
ah drift, so soft, so light,
where rollers shot with blue
cut under deeper blue as the
tide slackens when the roar of
a dropped wave breaks into it,
and under and under, this
is clear—soft kisses like bright
flowers— why do you dart and
pulse till all the dark is home?
I am scattered in its whirl.
This cento last appeared here in October 2016, and is composed exclusively of lines taken from fifteen pages in the Collected Poems of H.D., 6th printing, 1945. Hilda Doolittle is a fascinating figure in 20th century American poetry. You might look at the Poetry Foundation’s biography for further information:
Love this.
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Thank you. HD’s words are powerful even after being lifted and rearranged.
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I fell in love with H.D. in highschool. Virtual reality will he never catch up with her. Lovely cento.
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I came to appreciate HD much later, but have been making up for it. 🙂
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Hi, Robert. Just want you to know that I love HD too. Great post!
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Thanks very much, Josue. Her words still inspire!
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A whole lot of wonderful happens in the space here between whorl and whirl, as love rewrites human understanding through ecstatic physical experience. The use of inverted symbolism (light=chaos and darkness=order) is masterful, and the further topsy-turviness of the functions we normally associate with those creation-myth symbols (i.e., chaos is represented as the bright, beautiful, and haphazard stars and flowers; and order’s dark heart is the peaceful home toward which all light ultimately pulses), as love’s waves disorient and overwhelm, and ultimately carry the love-struck subject to a sense of purposeful oblivion, is an apt scattering of expectation and volition…
Thanks for including the link to H.D.’s bio! I need to get edumacated!
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She had a way of making words embody nature. Amazing stuff!
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Amazingly very clever of you Robert, your artistry in your cento is so fluid.
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Thanks, Ivor. It’s a fun and challenging exercise.
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Awesome! I’ll have to check out other works by this poet.
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It’ll be well worth the effort.
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Thank you for directing me here. I don’t know forms, by their names…..cento……….
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You’re very welcome!
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