Happy New Year! Life has been a bit tumultuous over the past few months (everyone is fine; everything–the jury is still out) and has left me with no brainpower for writing poetry. Reading poetry, yes, always. Writing, not so much. But it’s time for the Inkling’s monthly challenge. And since it was my turn to pose the prompt, I figured I’d better get my act together.
Even coming up with a prompt was beyond me. Early in January, Molly shared a list of prompts from the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center. I asked her if she would mind if I picked a prompt from this collection. Of course she didn’t. Here’s the one I chose:
Our Lips are Sealed…Or Not
Write a poem about secrets——family, community/societal, governmental, personal, etc. This could be a narrative (how the secret(s) started, where it or they led, the along-the-way and final (if any) consequences. For inspiration or starting blocks for your poem, here’s this poem, “Family Secret” by Nancy Kuhl:
https://poets.org/poem/family-secret
Secret loves, guilty (or not-so) secrets, happy secrets (like the gift you bought for __________ and secreted until the Big Day/Right Moment, and what happened next), whistle-blower secrets… It’s an unlimited grab-bag since humans can (or can’t) keep an incalculable supply of secrets. Maybe there’s a big-box store or warehouse out there somewhere where our discounted secrets are kept until ordered and dispatched with 2-day shipping guaranteed.
SO: unsheathe the Shushhhhhh… and happy writing! Ready and Steady and Go…
As I said, reading poetry, yes. Writing, no. So I decided to create a cento. (But I cheated and added some words of my own to help the lines flow. These lines are italicized.) Source poems and texts are listed in order at the bottom of the poem.
The secret of life
can’t be found in
the whole volume of S…
The secret is that
nothing can be permanently settled or solved;
air takes shape in shadow and light
and
time is the substance we are made of.
So,
Err on the side of generosity.
When you love someone… offer that person … your presence.
Offer poems of love to a burning world.
Treasure…the greenness that rises out of the ashes.
“The Secret” by Denise Levertov
“The World Book” by Patricia Hooper
The Future, by Naomi Alderman
“Body’s Ken” by Simon West
Jorge Luis Borges, quoted in The Marginalia
“When in Doubt” by Sandra Cisneros
Thich Nhat Hanh, quoted in The Marginalia
“Why Write Love Poetry in a Burning World” by Katie Farris
“Wild Joy” in The Comfort of Crows, by Margaret Renkl
Please be sure to visit my fellow Inkling, Mary Lee Hahn, for the Poetry Friday Roundup. And don’t forget to visit all the Inklings to learn all their secrets!
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
Reading to the Core 
I can relate to these feelings, Catherine. I have just come out of some months of not writing. More a conscious decision on my part, grappling with so many rejections. So – don’t feel alone. And take all the time that you need. That’s okay. Hoping you find your greenness soon.
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ooooooh! Nicely done, Catherine. Great combination of existing lines and your own genius. I was wondering what you were working on. This is great. I especially like, “can’t be found in the whole volume of S.” Isn’t that the truth! Wishing you a good and sweet weekend.
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Lovely, lovely, Catherine–and for me, the list of sources is part of the poem; the loveliness come from the broadness of your search for wisdom, the secret of life. I might like “time is the substance we are made of” best, and I’m off to read the Katie Farris. Thanks for choosing this richly inspiring prompt. I hope things are going somehow smoothly for you at school.
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Simply beautiful. And your list of sources is evidence to back up the fact that you’re constantly reading poetry, even when the bandwidth to write isn’t there.
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Lovely, Catherine! The thought of erring on the side of generosity, and the thought of offering love poems to a burning world are perfect sentiments.
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I absolutely love these lines:
When you love someone… offer that person … your presence.
Offer poems of love to a burning world.
Treasure…the greenness that rises out of the ashes.
Thank you!
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Catherine, good for you! You wrote a cento, and tied all the lines together so beautifully. Thank you for the links to the quoted poems; I enjoyed reading them too. My favorite line is: “Offer poems of love to a burning world,” which also reminds me of Linda Salas’ poem today.
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Oh Catherine, I hope healing and time brings you back words. But what a gift to be able to lean on words of others’. Beautiful cento.
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Wow! I really love this! And so glad you found that prompt. The poems coming out of it are amazing!
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This is so wonderful, Catherine! Choosing a cento as your form was the perfect way to share with us the reading that you are doing and your transformation of it. That final line has me off to search for Margaret Renkl’s poetry. Thanks!
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Sorry for the complications, Catherine, wishing you untangling it all! For “not” writing, you gave us beautiful wishes for better everywhere. Thank you! I love “Treasure…the greenness. . .” An article in the Times this am shared about an “awe walk”, helping us all to find what you just wrote about!
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Your last stanza is beautiful, sage advice “Offer poems of love to a burning world.” That we can do when otherwise feeling helpless. Thanks!
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“nothing can be permanently settled or solved;” – Catherine, I’m sorry for what sounds like a rocky time. Sending hugs to you, and my thanks to you for creating this cento. These poems are just as time-consuming, if not more than, writing a draft from scratch. I love the new being you’ve created. ❤
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Your cento has the beauty of a patchwork quilt – each piece lovely on its own, but stitched together by careful hands, becomes something bigger and lovelier than what it was start with. Thank you for sharing it with us today.
Wishing you peace and fortitude as you weather the tumult of the present moment.
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Catherine, I relate to the writing hiatus, thanks to the interruptions in life, or rather, the interruptions that actually *are* life.
Here’s to poems of love to a burning world. ❤️
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[…] to see what the other Inklings have done with this challenge, click on their links: Mary Lee HahnCatherine FlynnLinda MitchellHeidi MordhorstMargaret […]
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[…] a prompt for the first Friday of each month. I asked my friends Molly Hogan, Mary Lee Hahn, Catherine Flynn, Linda Mitchell, and Heidi Mordhorst to write persona poems. Persona poems are written in a […]
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