Best Cento Poems
"Look what they've done to my song, Ma" ~ Melanie Saftka
Act I – Pie (One bright morning)
my muse just wants pie
I huffed, “Okay, give it a try.”
Pies begin with precision,
lovely decision.
I crave a treat, a sweet delight
one that brings a smile and makes my morning bright.
The popular apple and blackberry pie
Ah, just the thought makes me sigh.
Act 2 II – Ice-cream (Two hours later, on a yummy Sundae afternoon)
what fancy leads me on to dream
of sugar plums in frozen cream
I drool o'er yummy ice cream on my tongue
Thoughts of the tasty dish makes me so long
Betwixt lucky lips my eager tongue licks
A mouth watering afternoon dish fix
With a chuckle, he swore,
"I’ll just eat one more”.
epigraph:
A Field Guide to the Questions
That Survived the Fire
I Didn’t Start
—
I. The Songs
When peace like a river
When, for whom
I still haven’t found
what I’m looking for
Why here
here comes the sun
Whose morning
the answer is blowing
in the wind
Why ask
What if
a change is gonna come
When it circles back
Amen?
all you need is love
What then
what’s love got to do with it
Why love, then
every breath you take
Who owns
I’m not yours.
Not now
like a rolling stone
Which road
you can’t always get
Why try
Why dream,
anymore
I heard it through the grapevine
Why now
imagine all the people
What remains—
—
II. The Poets
When—
hope is the thing with feathers
Why—
the center cannot hold
How—
I contain multitudes
Where—
in a dark wood,
midway
When again—
a dream deferred
darkens
What then—
dare to disturb
the universe
So why love at all—
it cuts,
and you
were always
already open
Who watches—
someone will remember us,
not save us
Which road—
I saw my life
branching before me
What remains—
nothing will come
of nothing
Why now—
the hour is out of joint
dislocated
Then what—
the same dark wood.
midway.
again.
—
Coda
and after the songs
and after the poets
and after every question—
a chasm inside you
God left there
before the Word.
don’t answer.
it doesn’t need a way—
it is
the way.
It is late September again.
Under a warming sun, your hand holds my hand.
Now the horizon sits – a silent spectator.
When gently huffs the wind,
twilight cascades upon my skin.
We lay in misty vapor from
dusk’s bursting promise
as ink paints a panorama of primrose.
As luminous streams of stars
paint my poetic sky,
stirring my moon-swept soul,
soft fire is his eyes.
I glow through starlight,
embracing our marrow’s warmth.
Let the strongest of winds come -
our hand hold will never end.
three rhymed sestets written as a cento (see below)
PC I muse, while the heaving waves of life are rising,
SO earth’s rampant tides drag one deeper. Unsurprising
CR memories burn again, ‘ever brighter, higher,
NO serenades from elders gath’ring in a bonfire.
PC The sea of our mind has no mercy in its reach
AD Embrace these lines, imagine life without a beach?
NO Consider a spectacle tryst with my rice field.
CR The field of grass, I lay in once where I was healed
SH in a mixture of emerald and shamrock hues,
SO simply confined in momentary thoughts and views.
SH I wish to paint our landscape again with new breadth.
AD Embrace these lines to come back from ocean’s depths.
NO Lanterns glow near the plain, rivers blue twirl on clay,
AD It is a time to relax, to stay calm, to pray.
SH Green embraces every lake, tree tops kiss the sky
CR Sweet tender days on which we look back, unsure why
PC dangers still hide in dark corners unknown before.
SO Embrace these lines, hope to be washed upon the shore.
I used June 2016 poems written by these six PS poets.
Author's initials precede lines which are attributed to each.
My thanks to each one of you for your permission to use your pieces
to write mine.
The Sea of My Life – Paul Callus
Drowning in Tears – Silent One
Forever Bright – Carrie Richards
A Sunny Beach – Andrea Dietrich
Rice Fields – Nette Onclaud
Green is Serene – Sandra Haight
July 4, 2016
Cinematic overture
Masquerade ball macabre
Stories from the pages of history
The winter cemetery
Abracadabra
Mountains of Bavaria
Hungarian rhapsody
Pearls of perpetuity
Threads of deceit
Born with two left feet
The shakiest gun in the west
Dracula and the dinner guest
Chagall’s whimsy
Frost like filigree
A snowqueen tale
The end of a fairy tale
Sleeping with prince charming
A storm is brewing
Brokenhearted sunsets
Sky with no regrets
The fairy tale must end
The beginning and the end
Morning apparition
The resurrection
Wings of wonder
Mourning’s in the eye of the griever
Tribute to Kim Rodrigues - title and every line are borrowed titles of her poems. I actually have a longer version titled SEA OF CHAOS.
AP: 1st place 2022
Submitted on August 2, 2021 for contest A BRIAN STRAND RHYMED POETRY sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - RANKED 1ST
and on September 14, 2025 for contest CENTO FAVES sponsored by CRYSTAL WOODS - RANKED 2ND
With this tear halfway to heaven I love you, goodbye
Hear me calling you falling into you dreaming of you
I surrender all the way if I could the colour of my love
At last come to me Immortality in unison to love you more
Hear me calling you falling into you dreaming of you
Faith in us forget me not think twice set me free I'm your angel
At last come to me Immortality in unison to love you more
The power of love seduces me Fly love can move mountains
Faith in us forget me not think twice set me free I'm your angel
I surrender all the way if I could the colour of my love
The power of love seduces me Fly love can move mountains
With this tear halfway to heaven I love you, goodbye
Celine Dion songs in order: With This Tear. Halfway To Heaven. I Love You, Goodbye. Calling You. Falling Into You. Dreaming Of You. I Surrender. All The Way. If I Could. The Colour Of My Love. At Last. Come To Me. Immortality. Unison. To Love You More. Faith. Us. Forget Me Not. Think Twice. Set Me Free. I'm Your Angel. The Power Of Love. Seduces Me. Fly. Love Can Move Mountains.
AP: Honorable Mention 2025, Honorable Mention 2025
Submitted on April 11, 2018 for contest MUSIC PANTOUM sponsored by SILENT ONE - RANKED 3RD
(The words in quotes are Ed Sheeran song titles.)
"Remember the name" you loved to repeat?
"Kiss me" again on Piccadilly Street.
Smell the "supermarket flowers---" lilies, roses, and such.
"Take me back to London," where our "shirtsleeves" would touch.
Two "hands of gold" framed with silk sunshine,
clinking together our glasses of wine...
"The hills of Aberfeldy" were never so green
with "a perfect duet" of "the joker and the queen."
Now, from our "castle on the hill," you aim each dart.
Could you find a kinder "way to break my heart?"
"I see fire" raging in every half-truth.
Is "this" the end of us, or just "the end of youth?"
"All of the stars" and "1000 nights"
were witness to some incredible sights...
"One" "perfect" "photograph" beside Big Ben...
Now a picture torn, in need of a mend.
Our still life moments have seen "happier" days.
I can't "stop the rain" of "salt water" haze.
"Shivers" surround me like the windy, grey sky.
"Sycamore" leaves flap fast but never fly.
Your coat, your lips, the blame---"put it all on me"
in public view like "overpass graffiti."
"Bad habits" lead to a thousand "first time(s),"
"a beautiful game," and a thousand new rhymes.
I see the "shape of you" in each "dusty" leaf.
My eyes search the ground, drowning with grief.
"Life goes on" without a yawn or a dream.
The "spark" of my heart is in your "bloodstream."
"Don't" "cross me" out of snapshots, in hopes to forget.
The "best part of me" will change all regret.
8-23-2023
A lover’s moon
I wander the desert alone
Figment of my imagination
Butterfly in my pocket
Wishing you were here
Listening and waiting
In this dream called life
A window to the soul
An adventure to remember
Drink from my fountain
Dance me a rainbow tango
Music to my ears
More than a memory
More than a lifetime
Calling all angels
A hundred times a day
Adieu until I see you in heaven
Remembering joy
Gypsy soul, red velvet rose
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
A lover’s moon (John Gondolf)
I wander the desert alone (Agnes Krampe)
Figment of my imagination (Kim Rodrigues)
Butterfly in my pocket (Richard Lamoureux)
Wishing you were here (Ann Gilmour)
Listening and waiting (Caren Krutsinger)
This dream called life (Andrea Dietrich)
A window to the soul (Gershon Wolf)
An adventure to remember (Jennifer Proxenos)
Drink from my fountain (Charles Messina)
Dance me a rainbow tango (Panagiota Romios)
Music to my ears (Timothy McGuire)
More than a memory (Sandra Adams)
More than a lifetime (Sand Blown)
Calling all angels (Arturo Michael)
A hundred times a day (Dear Heart)
Adieu until I see you in heaven (Jan Allison)
Remembering joy (Linda Williams)
Gypsy soul (Rhona McFerran)
Red velvet rose (Eve Roper)
On a passing cloud there floats a dream
A silent prayer
The shape of bittersweet
Solitude by the reverie
Without a string
In the dead of night
Overlapping universes
By the water's edge
How sweet it is
Borrowed bits of spirituality
Dreams are made of this
Mother Earth, my mortal muse
Matters of the heart
Music of my youth
Where have the years gone
When I close my eyes
Riding out the thunder storm
I dream a day I dream a night
However many
Time won’t wait
What if later never comes
Forever eternally
Infinity is now
A sun that never sets
(each line is a title of one of my poems)
Published in my 24-page photo/anthology ~MINDFULLY~ 2021
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
Submitted on July 8, 2019 for contest COLLABORATION OF YOUR TITLES sponsored by CHARLES MESSINA - RANKED 2ND
VIII. THE RUIN
The river reflects
the moonlight
on a gravel road
I should have stayed on the farm
I should have listened
to my old man
She’s living in L.A.
with my best old ex-friend
There’s a hole
in daddy’s arm
where all the money goes
I don’t know
where we went wrong
Does anyone know
where the love of God goes
You better let
somebody love you
before it’s too late
From give and take,
and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I remember standing
there
(Yogi’s heavy collar jingling in the
hall, Gurty asleep by the amp)
until I remember
I only remember
the songs
that disappear
the moment
the music died
(the soul darkens)
IX. THE DARK NIGHT
OF THE SOUL
I have become
comfortably numb
Everybody rolls
with their fingers crossed
Freedom's just
another word
for nothing left
to lose
When you're weary,
feeling small
I will dry
your tears
You can't always get
what you want
But if you try sometimes...
Is a dream a lie
if it don't come true
Or is it something worse?
It's life's
illusions
I recall
I really don't know
life at all
I never knew
what silence
could do
Somewhere between
the time you arrive
and the time you go
may lie
a reason
you were alive
I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
(the turning begins)
======
VI. THE RUNNING MAN’S
LIFE
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolour in the rain
Tramps like us
Baby,
we were born to run
The highways jammed
with broken heroes
On a last chance drive
It’s a wild world
It’s hard to get by
just upon a smile, girl
He was born
in the summer
of his twenty-seventh year
We’re just two lost
souls
swimming
in a fish bowl
No one told you
when to run
You missed the starting gun
(Stefi, Becca, Jules—how did the years
outpace the engine?)
(a poetry man since '73, the same three
chords still finding
new ways to break)
Talk to me some more
You don't have to go
Fathers taught me
how to leave;
the years taught me how to wait
After changes
upon changes
we are more or less the same
And then one day you
find
ten years
have got behind you
And then one day you
find
ten years
have got behind you again
There never seems
to be enough time
It was long ago and far away
the world was younger than today
All we are
is dust in the wind
(corridor break)
All we are
is dust in the wind
(the descent deepens)
VII. THE COLLAPSE OF
TIME
I’ve been lately thinking
about my life’s time
Time can bring you
down
Time can bend your knees
So you speak to me
of sadness
Then winter’s
for wondering
what went wrong
I have stood upon
the mountain
and looked down
on all the people
I’m going to be a
happy idiot
and struggle
for the legal tender
(pause)
I’ve seen fire
and I’ve seen rain
Still, a man
hears what he wants to hear
and disregards the rest
Across the evening
sky
all the birds
are leaving
In the year
of the cat
(the descent reaches its floor, hell)
======
END OF PART 3 of 5
fruit extravaganza
dream vacation
dinner bell
a word of caution
while time waits for no one
[using titles of my 5 recent poems]
AP: 1st place 2025
I will wander through all the aeons and uncover all mysteries
As shepherd of the shining stars
Greek wisdom, the heavenly crescent moon
(Cento poem about Christ, using lines from the three surviving Gnostic/Naassene hymns)
Fragrant scent of lilac lilts through the vale,
painting the hills in His silent embrace,
Lyrics float by, searching for a home,
Their sunrise glow - the perfect rainbow-red
In divine grace that shines light from above,
He brings sunshine to the dusk of dim;
I’m a pen out of many, with which He may write.
Though all I have is a poet’s conviction
To taste new charms of heaven’s sprawl,
spilled now in ink penned to share,
~ Simple scribbles serenade me ~
My pen loves to rhyme and my parchment loves my pen,
Rippling with emotion, sometimes profound,
weeping in smudges of tearful metaphors,
nourishing thoughts into word dreams,
A slow sibilant whisper echoed from afar, a mermaid’s delight.
I saw American maiden with the choky breath
Panting sideways with the teary face .
I recently listned the siren of ambulance
And family sobs and I went past to her
Unfortunately, the ambulance left
It was a painful tragedy
Which made kins cried
I was anxious and tensed
When friends rosed questions about why
I could be rather be speechless
Eventhough I was questioned by my college mates
Which was unspoken incident which made
me numbed and fearful
it resulted in trauma and flashbacks
This is a painful tragedy
I could nt resist why
When I listened the wailing voices then
It made me cry
I could not forget the girl that
Was in my mind