First Tuesdays |||

The Cento for March 2, 2021

The Fire of Stars Changed Into Water

As long as there are books to fill my spirit
and light coming through the fire escape
we are the idiots engaged in idiot boxing.

The white plate gave a low groan of pleasure:
It must be spring, harrying females from behind,
erasing the imagination of a newly minted jedi mind.

Oh, I see, you died.

I needed pleasant surprises,
four roses at two dollars each from my beau.
We dream inside now of different stars and our own invention.

A hushed whooshing sound means I might not be alone tonight.
You are my new private possession, aren’t you,
soothing, before the glass.

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: Elizabeth Lara, Luvon Roberson, Marty Levine, Bob Ward, Gordon Gilbert, David Siller, Norman Stock, Lydia Chang, Catherine Fletcher, Peter Marra, Maria Lisella, Henry Sussman

Up next First Tuesdays Presents Lola Koundakjian The Cento for September 9, 2021
Latest posts 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 First Tuesdays Presents Hala Alyan In Memoriam Jay Chollick Watch A Video Of Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond’s Reading