C - Cento

Before we get into the poetry form for C, I just want to mention that I may be having a problem getting my comments on your blog to post.  I may, or they may be posting fine.  I have been getting many emails notifying me that my comments are blocked.  But, I see them when I revisit the blog, so they may be posting after all.  At any rate, if you think I am not visiting any A-Z blogs and commenting, I am!  I am also enjoying many of them. 

Cento

From the Latin word for "patchwork," the cento (or collage poem) is a poetic form made up of lines from poems by other poets.  A Cento is composed of only lines from other sources, not just a line or two.

My Cento is comprised of lines from 21 different poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay.  A list of the poems is at the bottom of the page.   I found this form to be a lot of fun to write. 

 

April

Spring is here; and so ‘tis spring!

I will set a barrel

out to catch the rain,

for rain it hath a friendly sound.

At dawn from my damp garden

I will plant bergamot. 

We will set it out to grow.

I will touch a hundred flowers,

marigolds around the step

and all the flowers that in the springtime grow.

There will be rose and rhododendron,

lilac, pink, blue.

I let my garden grow.

So wide shall be the garden-walk,

a gateless garden, and an open path.

Here is a place for me to lie

in this field we wander through

where the tall mullein

stands up so sturdy,

heavy with bees, a sunny sound.

Cat-birds call

and here again, the butterflies

blossom in the air,

blue, green, blue.

 

Oh, the things I haven’t seen and the things I haven’t known!

And what did I see I had not seen before?

All that I really love,

as there are flowers and you and song.

Lines used from the following poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay -

Renascence, Rosemary, Afternoon on a Hill, The Little Ghost, Doubt no More Than Oberon, Kin to Sorrow, Three Songs of Shattering, Blight, Weeds, The Singing-Woman From the Wood’s Edge, Song of a Second April, Spring, Elaine, Elegy Before Death, Memorial to D.C. III Chorus, Journey, Mariposa, The Blue-Flag in the Bog, To Kathleen, Eel Grass, Wild Swans, Pastoral, untitled with first line Mindful of you the sodden earth in spring

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