First Tuesdays |||

The Cento for September 6, 2016

Cento

1
Everyone takes sides.
“Maybe it’s a terrorist attack!”
“We saw the bodies in the box,
a knotty rope of some version of the American Dream,
except for the places
that aren’t where they are.

2
The Throgs Neck Bridge looms before us.

3
I wonder what people think of you
when you walk onto the train,
quiet as the legs of a katydid.

4
“I have the top but I can’t put it in!”

Oy! Look at you!
I cannot be your love.
I only want to kill you
when I am.

5
“Our juices mingle,” he whispered.
The tremble of her fingers
smoothed the damp hair of my scalp.

During every First Tuesdays open mic, we communally compose a cento using language taken from each open-mic reader’s offering. This cento is composed of lines from the work of: James McMenamin, Ron Kolm, Peter Marra, Elizabeth Primamore, Marty Levine, Herb Rubenstein, Amanda Sprecher, David Mills, Lydia Chang, Norman Stock, Kristi Hart, Suzanne Bennett, Lisa Terzo.

Up next The First Tuesdays Centos for the 2015-2016 Season First Tuesdays Presents Tim Fredrick
Latest posts First Tuesdays Presents Jared Beloff First Tuesdays Presents Martine Bellen First Tuesdays Presents Sokunthary Svay The Cento for April 2, 2024 First Tuesdays Presents Sam Peterson The Cento for September 12, 2023 This Video Was Made From the May 2, 2017 Cento The Cento for May 2, 2023 First Tuesdays Presents Andrea Carter Brown The Cento for April 4, 2023 First Tuesdays Presents Nandana Dev Sen First Tuesdays Presents Elizabeth Wood The Cento for March 7, 2023 The Cento for February 7, 2023 The Cento for January 3, 2023 First Tuesdays Presents Shams Momin First Tuesdays Presents Steven Paul Alvarez First Tuesdays Presents Jason Schneiderman The Cento for October 4, 2022 First Tuesdays Presents Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr. The Cento for September 6, 2022 First Tuesdays Presents Jacqueline Jones LaMon - September 6, 2022 Two First Tuesdays Regulars Read An Incarcerated Writer’s Work as Part of PEN’s & The Poetry Project’s BREAK OUT The Cento for December 7, 2021 First Tuesdays Presents David Mills First Tuesdays Presents Alex Segura The Cento for September 9, 2021 The Cento for March 2, 2021 First Tuesdays Presents Lola Koundakjian First Tuesdays Presents Eugene Lim First Tuesdays Presents Christina M. Rau