The Cento for April 4, 2023

Photo by Kerin Gedge on Unsplash

The Rest of The World Started to Come Back to Me

Why do I belong in this narrow street,
the garbageman’s garbageman’s refuse,
romantic remnants in decay?

We are lonely, lonely,
born to be lonely.
Why can’t we be best so?

This little duck, sun-dried and happy
starts to follow us, a little limp in his step.

I’ll need you to reclaim my life.
I haven’t seen a full moon for a long time.

Hope makes fools of us all.
I bind me so I can’t let go.

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: Monija Rahman, Henry Sussman, Dan Fleshler, Lisa Terzo, Shams Momin, Andrew Dick, Scott Bankert, and Semonti Wahed