The Cento

Title Page, Copyright, Acknowledgments

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Contents

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pp. 11-20

Introduction

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pp. 21-24

A cento is a collage-poem composed of lines lifted from other sources—often, though not always, from great poets of the past. In Latin the word cento means “patchwork,” and the verse form resembles a quilt of discrete lines stitched together to make a whole. The word cento is also Italian for “one hundred,” and some mosaic poems consist of exactly...

Preface

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pp. 25-30

As I was putting this collection together, one of the contributors, Allan Douglass Coleman, brought up several thought-provoking ideas. “Is ‘cento’ just another word for found poem,” he asked, “an attempt to gussy up that concept (as giclée is used to gussy up ink-jet prints in the fine-art field) and perhaps give it a history that goes back further than the early...

Robot Woman

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p. 31-31

Ecclesiastes Redux

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pp. 32-33

Melancholy in the Public Domain

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p. 34-34

Morning with Pessoa

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pp. 35-36

Holy Terror

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pp. 37-39

Solace from Marianne

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pp. 40-41

Cento Canto

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pp. 42-46

Duke Ellington

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p. 47-47

Terminal Signs

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p. 48-48

How to Not be Here When the Universe Dies: a Cento-Sestina

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pp. 49-50

There Is a World: Lee Harvey Oswaldand the Seduction of History

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pp. 51-53

Debbi Brody: Santa Fe Soul Cento

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pp. 54-58

Junk Mail: a Found Poem

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p. 59-59

There Was Only the Sound of the Sea

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pp. 60-61

Sea and Sky

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p. 62-62

Giant

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p. 63-63

I had some things

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p. 64-64

The Bard

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pp. 65-66

How the Animals Came Into this World

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pp. 67-68

Clooth-na-Bare

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p. 69-69

Trifles

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p. 70-70

Things to Remember about Shafting

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pp. 71-72

Thomas Eakins on Painting

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p. 73-73

Patchwork Sonnet of Friends’ Complimentary Closes

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p. 74-74

Misunderestimated Will of Me in the Actual Unedited Words of George W. Bush: A Fabulous Year for Laura and Me (December 2001)

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pp. 75-76

River Road Cento: a Sevening

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p. 77-77

Char’d Endings

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p. 78-78

A Cento of Stolen Moments

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p. 79-79

You Had Meant to Catch It

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p. 80-80

The Witness

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pp. 81-84

A Villanella

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p. 85-85

My Mother’s Ashes

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pp. 86-87

He Who Cannot Run Flies

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p. 88-88

Fresh Produce Tabloid Headlines

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p. 89-89

In the Center of Furies

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p. 90-90

Green Is the Night and Out of Madness Woven

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pp. 91-93

Twelve Drummers Drumming: A Haiku Sequence

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p. 94-94

Compassion for Scarpia

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pp. 95-97

Call Me Pier

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p. 98-98

Men of Our Time

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pp. 99-100

Shelley / Baudelaire / Joyce): The RadioChanges Poet Channels

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pp. 101-102

Cento (Mark Doty, Atlantis)

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pp. 103-104

Did you ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?

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p. 105-105

Cento: Falls the Shadow

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p. 106-106

A Short History of Tobacco

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pp. 107-108

Elegy with Surrealist Proverbs as Refrain

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pp. 109-110

21st Century Girls: A Quarter-Cento

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p. 111-111

eclipsed

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pp. 112-113

He learns he was given a secret name

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p. 114-114

Approaching a Significant Birthday,He Peruses The Norton Anthology of Poetry

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pp. 115-116

Land of the Fairy Chimneys

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p. 117-117

An American Cento

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pp. 118-119

On Finding a Book of Poems

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pp. 120-121

Burns Festschrift

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p. 122-122

Gwendolyn Brooks: Medley of Wisdom

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pp. 123-124

Letter to Dana Gioia

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pp. 125-127

Letter to Philip Brady

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pp. 128-129

A Magazine of Bare, Naked Ladies

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p. 130-130

Exercises in Subordination

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pp. 131-132

The Second Coming of the New Colossus

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p. 133-133

Twenty Couplets

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pp. 134-137

At the Hour of Love and Blue Eye Lids

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pp. 138-142

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Ruined byReading the Cantos of Ezra Pound

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pp. 143-147

133

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p. 148-148

166

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p. 149-149

Centoum for Gin and Pilgrims

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p. 150-150

On Frida Kahlo’s Diego on My Mind

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p. 151-151

Blonde

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p. 152-152

What Would I Do Without This WorldFaceless Incurious: A Cento

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pp. 153-154

Let the Snake Wait

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p. 155-155

Volatile Territories

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p. 156-156

December 14

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p. 157-157

Touchstones

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pp. 158-159

Caught by the Light: A Cento

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pp. 160-162

That Would Be All of It

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p. 163-163

A Muscle Disease, a Stream of Clear,Pure Water All Dried Up

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pp. 164-166

Poetics

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p. 167-167

Wet Bones

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pp. 168-169

Last Words: A Cento

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p. 170-170

Emily, Walking

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p. 171-171

View from a Hotel in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania

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p. 172-172

Astrophel and Stella

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p. 173-173

cento

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p. 174-174

when it rains (Clouds Cento #5)

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p. 175-175

Grimm Cento #2

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pp. 176-177

Dickinson’s Island

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p. 178-178

Dreaming Myself

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pp. 179-180

Nos Morituri Te Salutamus

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p. 181-181

Ballade Confessionnelle: Plath and Sexton

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pp. 182-183

Who But I

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pp. 184-185

Cento, Selected Works

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pp. 186-188

Fall Runway Report

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p. 189-189

Wander Woman

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p. 190-190

Dove Promises

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p. 191-191

Untitled

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p. 192-192

Stolen Wind Poem

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pp. 193-194

To My Ex

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p. 195-195

Map of Bones

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pp. 196-197

Lion Tamarins

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p. 198-198

Word Balloon

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p. 199-199

Now Is the Time

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pp. 200-201

Blood Bath

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pp. 202-203

Fury

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p. 204-204

New Mother Cento

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p. 205-205

Trichechus manatus latirostris

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p. 206-206

Never Start a Sentence with There

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pp. 207-208

A Cento of Houses

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pp. 209-210

On Silk and Soul

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pp. 211-212

Things to Remember

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p. 213-213

A Cento of Lucy Angeleri’s Poetry

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p. 214-214

Spamtoum

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pp. 215-216

Cento

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p. 217-217

Midnight

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p. 218-218

Cento: The Waves Are Running in Verses

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p. 219-219

Standing Here/Now

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pp. 220-222

Team Poem

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p. 223-223

Fatima

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pp. 224-225

Like a Wide River

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pp. 226-227

Paraphrase in Time of Thaw

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pp. 228-231

About the Author

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p. 232-232

Theresa Malphrus Welford, who hails from a working-class background in the state of Georgia, has taught at the University of Georgia, Louisiana State University, Western Carolina University, and the University of Cincinnati. At Georgia Southern, where she...