Yeah, recognize mine: "Hurl your hope heedlessly / it's how we'll keep from drowning."
It's from a scaldic poem I worked on awhile back. (The form, dróttkvætt, is a nice, neat, condensed one if others would like to give it a go.) Ann's project really came out well!
I really appreciate that you saw something in them. (I must admit that they mean more to me now than before, and it's something I'm trying to practice.) Thanks for writing this, Ann, it's such an attentive way to bring so many people together.
I wondered what line was going to be pulled, because this cento is so lovely, I thought maybe I was the 'heel' somehow. But Ann, thank you reminding me I can be positive at times :), and it's a nice encouragement to pursue it further.
I liked the idea of each of us bringing a spark--a little piece of fire--to this poem. You and I have both seen a lot of death and tragedy. Yours from war, and mine from the ICU, but there are still so many sparks of truth and beauty in it all. Poems to be spoken.
Thank you, thank you, Ann. This comment made my week. I am so honored and humbled that my words have found a place in your heart and in your poems. And if you ever do that cento that would be so very very cool. It would be fascinating to see which lines resonate and how you might re-vision them.
Ann has a real gift of sight! Her engagement in the poetry of others is a perpetual blessing. I'm honored to have "sun crowns cedars / revealing golden blooms" quoted from my haibun, found in the craft essay I published here: https://mimesiskinesis.substack.com/p/slender-flames-haiku-and-its-kin
Thank you, Mark. I keep your craft essay, Slender Flames, printed and handy as a teaching tool. I spent an extended time with this teaching on a silent retreat this winter. It was the best couple of days: exploring, journaling, and praying with all the different forms. Thank you for it.
What a stunning tapestry, I was touched more than you know to see the lines from my Sonnet XXXII (https://substack.com/@thomasmckendry/p-188194325) "I bent the light, pouring through half drawn shutters / to craft a humble halo for your head". I'd love to know who's words she weaved so masterfully into mine "as butter melts in the sun, molten and golden" etc
Astonishingly delightful in and of itself … and to be included in this assembly feels something like I imagine it must feel to be an angel in a heavenly choir.
I recognized one line of mine, but Ann mentioned another line during her reading that I don't remember writing 😳😁. Whether I remember writing it or not, I'm so honored to be part of this gorgeous poem. It makes me so happy to see all these beautiful words together.
Oh! Thank you, Ann. I wrote and posted that poem so fast that I forgot about it (another argument for letting poems simmer a little longer ;). Thank you again for using it—I’m truly honored.
What a fine gift to be included in such luminous company! Thank you for hosting, X.P. You are always so hospitable. And Ann, thank you for turning you fine eye to our work. There were places where I had to stop and just wonder. Some of the lines *sounded* like something I might write! As Anne Sexton said, we're all writing the one poem.
How lovely and fun and such a gift, Ann. Thank you for using two lines from my book Gathering the Pieces of Days: "I wake up dreaming of waking up" and "of earth and its curves." Your generosity and kindness shows in each poem.
Yeah, recognize mine: "Hurl your hope heedlessly / it's how we'll keep from drowning."
It's from a scaldic poem I worked on awhile back. (The form, dróttkvætt, is a nice, neat, condensed one if others would like to give it a go.) Ann's project really came out well!
Your lines feel so timely, right now. Especially--"it's how we'll keep from drowning" So much so, I wanted them to echo.
I really appreciate that you saw something in them. (I must admit that they mean more to me now than before, and it's something I'm trying to practice.) Thanks for writing this, Ann, it's such an attentive way to bring so many people together.
Isn't it stunning to see the word-work of many quilted into a poem that invites the reader to snuggle in, get comfortable, read on?
I'm so glad it warms you, Kim. I loved your soul traveling lines. Like a dove that flies through it.
A true collage poem!
Thank you, Celia--a collage of amazing sounds and ideas!
What a gift by Ann, and such a beautiful testimony to many amazing poets here!
I caught my line, "But each friend brings a spark of the sun" which is from: https://bitpunkfm.substack.com/p/melting-the-sinking-snow
I wondered what line was going to be pulled, because this cento is so lovely, I thought maybe I was the 'heel' somehow. But Ann, thank you reminding me I can be positive at times :), and it's a nice encouragement to pursue it further.
I liked the idea of each of us bringing a spark--a little piece of fire--to this poem. You and I have both seen a lot of death and tragedy. Yours from war, and mine from the ICU, but there are still so many sparks of truth and beauty in it all. Poems to be spoken.
I love this cento. (And what a treat it was to hear Ann reading it a couple weeks ago.) Such a beautiful braid, the conversations all pulled together!
I recognize my lines:
before the angelic 'Hail' fell
on the flowers of summer
like stones of ice.
They're from my poem 'Silent Mother?': https://melaniebettinelli.substack.com/p/silent-mother
I recognize a few other lines here and there from other people's poems as well. I hope everyone chimes in so I can catch more of them.
Melanie, I had the hardest time choosing from all the gorgeous lines of yours that I've loved. I think I need to make an all-Bettinelli cento.
Thank you, thank you, Ann. This comment made my week. I am so honored and humbled that my words have found a place in your heart and in your poems. And if you ever do that cento that would be so very very cool. It would be fascinating to see which lines resonate and how you might re-vision them.
💛🔥
And actually I forgot that I'd written the second two lines until I went back to look at my poem. So that was a fun surprise.
Fascinating, Ann - and how fine to be quoted!
(Original poem here, for anyone interested: https://thomas822.substack.com/p/dappled-road?r=33ghms&utm_medium=ios)
Nice, your lines follow mine, an apple appled
Applied? 🙂
I will get stanzas of yours stuck in my ear. Love the way you play with sound, Thomas.
Amazing, Ann! So honoured my line, ‘the very apple of you’, fit, and fit so well. From my poem, plan:
https://alangirling.substack.com/p/best-laid-plan?r=1fgbp&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
That poem--whooshhh!--it flies.
yes!
Ann has a real gift of sight! Her engagement in the poetry of others is a perpetual blessing. I'm honored to have "sun crowns cedars / revealing golden blooms" quoted from my haibun, found in the craft essay I published here: https://mimesiskinesis.substack.com/p/slender-flames-haiku-and-its-kin
Thank you, Mark. I keep your craft essay, Slender Flames, printed and handy as a teaching tool. I spent an extended time with this teaching on a silent retreat this winter. It was the best couple of days: exploring, journaling, and praying with all the different forms. Thank you for it.
What a stunning tapestry, I was touched more than you know to see the lines from my Sonnet XXXII (https://substack.com/@thomasmckendry/p-188194325) "I bent the light, pouring through half drawn shutters / to craft a humble halo for your head". I'd love to know who's words she weaved so masterfully into mine "as butter melts in the sun, molten and golden" etc
Thomas, thank you for these beautiful lines. The melted butter was my response to Jonathan Potter in a traveling haiku that wafted around Substack Notes back in February: https://substack.com/@72seasons/note/c-216680327?r=4r5a2&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
The buttered floor line was from Margaret Ann Silver's "Sunlight Makes Shadows of the Plants" an ekphrastic poetry prompt from Melanie Bettinelli.
https://margaretannsilver.substack.com/p/sunlight-makes-shadows-of-the-plants?utm_source=publication-search
It was so much fun to pour and spread all the buttered light. :)
Wonderful, thank you for sharing :)
Thanks for posting this! Ann's reading was great and I'm happy to be able to spend some time with this work on the page.
Thank you, Janie! I loved sharing the time with you.
Wow! I sent something over the ocean, but it seems to have evolved along the way!
Here is the source
https://edgarballantyne.substack.com/p/twenty-six?r=2k52z4&utm_medium=ios
So so beautiful. Thanks again, Edgar!
Astonishingly delightful in and of itself … and to be included in this assembly feels something like I imagine it must feel to be an angel in a heavenly choir.
Jonathan, will you point me to your lines?
Kortney here is Jonathan's haiku. I hope he won't mind. Scrolling back through Notes can be a slog. https://substack.com/@jonathanpotter/note/c-216657361?r=4r5a2&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
Also: "No gate, no border, lock or key," is from "The Sunrise on the Land Beyond" from Jonathan's book _The Sweet Spot in the Chaos_
Thanks Ann -- I like your selections
Congratulations to all of you. Happy to see that I know and read most of your works.
I recognized one line of mine, but Ann mentioned another line during her reading that I don't remember writing 😳😁. Whether I remember writing it or not, I'm so honored to be part of this gorgeous poem. It makes me so happy to see all these beautiful words together.
Margaret Ann, I think it's really hard to recognize a line taken completely out of context. I loved your poem "First Aid For Birds" a glimpse of your daughter and her friend destringing pigeons. So compassionate and tender. Thank you for these small moments. https://margaretannsilver.substack.com/p/first-aid-for-birds?utm_source=publication-search
Oh! Thank you, Ann. I wrote and posted that poem so fast that I forgot about it (another argument for letting poems simmer a little longer ;). Thank you again for using it—I’m truly honored.
What a fine gift to be included in such luminous company! Thank you for hosting, X.P. You are always so hospitable. And Ann, thank you for turning you fine eye to our work. There were places where I had to stop and just wonder. Some of the lines *sounded* like something I might write! As Anne Sexton said, we're all writing the one poem.
Kortney, your mini chapbooks delight me to no end. From "Every Broken Year":
All summer, I am / apprenticed to desire
-and-
I still feel the heat / of your attention
Love the Sexton quote. Life is a never-ending poem. . .
I had the same feeling. There were a number of lines that seemed like they well might be mine.
How lovely and fun and such a gift, Ann. Thank you for using two lines from my book Gathering the Pieces of Days: "I wake up dreaming of waking up" and "of earth and its curves." Your generosity and kindness shows in each poem.
Oh such great lines, thank you LeeAnn. I love them and what they did for the cento.