First Tuesdays |||

Cento for November 5, 2013

During every First Tuesdays open mic, we communally compose a cento using language taken from each open-mic reader’s offering. Unfortunately, I no longer have the signup sheet for November 2013. Nonetheless, here’s the cento we composed back then:

Cento

As the crucifix bends down to giggle at her,
all the colors blend into a uniform gray,
a lifelong algebraic
equation that yields no answer.
I knew this would end someday.
Fallen dreams will never rise again.

Today I was missing the light.
Deception in time becomes an art.
Some are afraid to get undressed;
some are afraid of what comes next,
treading the dark corners of the world
with quizzical retrospection.

Up next First Tuesdays Presents: Joan Cusack Handler First Tuesdays Presents Nicole Cooley
Latest posts 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 First Tuesdays On Zoom Presents David Rothman