Dec 01, 2022 by Bethel Swift, in Writing & Publishing

A cento is a “patchwork” poem comprised of lines from other poets' poems with only some punctuation changed. I post new centos periodically to share what I'm reading and keep the creative wheels turning. Citations follow each poem. This is November 2022's installment:

Resilience

In the flurry of passing faces
I can almost imagine I know you . . .
Are you all right?
Behind this mask,
having failed and failed at love,
I am alive. I am alive! I am.

Citations:

 ¹ “Coming Home” in A Strange Summer by Chris Vannoy
 ² “Memorial for Stephanie” in Available Light by Sandy Coomer
 ³ “Here and Now: My Life Today” in Words Bursting in Air by Janice Alper
 ⁴ “A Pan African Mask Speaks” in Classic Kwanzaa Poems: New and Selected by JohnnieRenee Nelson
 ⁵ “Carpathia” in Carpathia by Cecilia Woloch

 6 “Lifeline” in Girl with Death Mask by Jennifer Givhan

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