Boxing Clever – a cento

Within my rooted being lies a box of green,
lined with dewy moss to quench and revive,
clasped onto my sea-shell collection.
A self-portrait, the stones I carved
by the sea with salt in its veins,
embryonic, in a cosmic womb,
its dark edges are still dissolving.
Wrapped around a framework of bones
overflowing with ragtag paraphernalia
of my stumbled tumbled dreams,
a hazy recollection of memories.
Cut the nightmare away,
hold just the smiling faces of love,
give my heart’s whole weight in dreams.

Kim M. Russell, 21st May 2024

Image by Kelsey Todd on Unsplash

At the dVerse Poets Pub, this week’s Poetics is hosted by Melissa, and we are writing May centos from April poems. She starts her prompt with an interesting quote from T.S. Eliot, which says that “ A good poet will usually borrow from authors remote in time, or alien in language, or diverse in interest”.

A cento is a poem composed from lines of other writers’ poems, a bit like a collage or quilt, which is the meaning of the Latin word cento. Melissa has given us two examples of centos: the first is ‘Lepcento idopteran: A Cento’ by  Linda Bierds, and the second one Melissa wrote for her prompt, composed from the lines of dVerse poets.

The lines used for my cento are taken from the following poems from my own prompt A Box of Poems:

Lines 1 and 2: ‘How Many Boxes Lie Inside of You?’ by Ali Grimshaw
Lines 3 and 14:  ‘The Keeper’s Tools’ by Oloriel
Lines 4 and 6: ‘The Box A Poem’ by petrujviljoen
Line 5:   ‘Hidden in my Box’ by Björn Rudberg
Line 7:   ‘Here is a Box’ by Dora Hak
Line 8:   ‘My Box’ by Dwight Roth
Line 9:   ‘Boxed’ by Punam
Line 10: ‘Soul Box’ by Rob Kistner
Line 11: ‘Unboxing the box’ by Kitty
Lines 12 and 13: ‘Music Box of Memories’ by Dianne

47 thoughts on “Boxing Clever – a cento”

  2. My goodness this is good! 😍 I especially admire this part; “A self-portrait, the stones I carved by the sea with salt in its veins, embryonic, in a cosmic womb, its dark edges are still dissolving.” Gorgeously rendered, Kim 🩷🩷

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  5. I have fun imagining the “box of green,
    lined with dewy moss to quench and revive,
    clasped onto my sea-shell collection”

    The last three lines together are just excellent. They leave me with a very good feeling.❤️

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  11. I’m in awe at how naturally the lines (including mine, thank you!) spring up one after another, following an overarching theme. A tricky feat, effortlessly performed by a master craftsman.

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  17. But as I read it, I was feeling : “this is pure Kim… what words has she borrowed?”

    So well cento-ed! So beautifully pleated and stitched! what grace and flow…

    Much love from Scotland (again), though I’m coming back in autumn…

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    1. Thank you, Kathy. I hope to visit Scotland next year. I’ve only ever been to the Aberdeen and Peterhead areas, but would love to visit the highlands and islands.

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  18. What an interesting experience to see my lines opening your poem. I am impressed with how you could take the words from different poems and incorporate them into this new, lovely, creation. I especially like the ending.

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    1. Thank you, Jim. I would have liked to visit a few more countries, but I’m not too keen on flying these days, when aeroplane etiquette has declined and airports are such busy places. We are going to Bruges on Eurostar for a few days in June. I hope to explore more parts of the British Isles in the future, although I’m happy just visiting my daughter in Hampshire and my sister on the Isle of Wight.

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