Community Collages
Last month, we suggested a new poetry collage activity for the Every Day Poems poetry club. And today we want to share two collages from the community.
One is a digital collage of the second half of our Do the shells still hear poem. It contains many layers (and a few secrets)—using original photography, painting, and found-object collages as sources. (Collage by LL Barkat .)
The second piece is a traditional collage that incorporates paintings, cutouts, hand lettering, and even a sprig of lavender flowers. It is based on our poem Kindness, by Anya Silver. (Collage by Bethany R.) We absolutely love its colorful, beautiful spirit!
We hope you enjoyed these community collages!
What’s Next? October Poetry Club Prompt
Our October poetry club activity is to craft a Cento from some of your favorite Every Day Poems lines.
For some extra fun, you’re invited to hand-letter your Cento poem, using a different style or color for each unique line you’ve gathered from another poet. Or, you could put each line on a different slip of paper and collage your poem together.
Here’s our sample, using three options for presentation:
Option 1 • Type Out Your Poem, Like This
Barter
Opening like a flower
the work fragile
night after night
in shadow patience
riveted to the secret
unable to speak—
it wasn’t enough, it wasn’t enough
Option 2 • Handwrite Your Poem with Varying Line Styles, Like This
Option 3 • Simple-Collage Your Handwritten Poem, Like this
Our “Barter” cento uses lines from Barter (Sara Teasdale), Bowl (Heather Swan), Nestament (Laurie Klein), Grey Gardens (Sarah Nichols), Sensei (Katrinka Moore), Boy and Egg (Naomi Shihab Nye), God of Rooms (Jean Valentine), We Were Missing a Present (Mahmoud Darwish)
How to Possibly Be Featured
Share your poem and/or photo of your poem with us by November 1, for possible feature here and at Every Day Poems in our next community post!
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Bethany R. says
This is just so much fun. I love sifting through recent and distant Every Day Poems looking for lines. Like a treasure hunt . . .
L.L. Barkat says
So glad you are having fun with it, Bethany. I thought so, too. 🙂
Tricia Stohr-Hunt says
How do we share our cento poems?
L.L. Barkat says
Tricia, thanks for asking.
Did you do artwork… or is it a typed poem?
If it’s typed, you can share the poem here in the comment box (include the attributions to the poems you took the lines from).
If it’s artwork, you can post a link to wherever you’re on social media and can post the art. So, for instance, if you’re on Instagram, post it on Instagram and then share that Instagram post link here in the comment box. You can include the attributions to the poems you took the lines from either in your Instagram (or other social) post or here in the comment box when you share your link.
Let us know if you have more questions. 🙂 Looking forward to your cento!! 🙂
Tricia Stohr-Hunt says
I have posted my poem to my blog. What a fun challenge!
https://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/2023/11/a-cento-challenge.html
Bethany says
Love it, Tricia—both the cento you created and the layout on the student writing paper! Beautiful work.
L.L. Barkat says
Ooo. What a wonderful cento, Tricia!
(And the presentation is so inviting. 🙂 )
Bethany R. says
Looking forward to reading your cento Poetry Club piece, Tricia!
Bethany R. says
I just finished arranging my cento lines and am trying to choose between typing it out here or displaying it. You know, I’m drawn to color these days . . .
Bethany says
Is it okay to add punctuation?
Bethany says
And is it okay to use two short lines (which together create a sentence) from one of the source poems?
L.L. Barkat says
You can do whatever you like, Bethany. The Cento has flexibility. 🙂 (If people want to go back to the source poems and see what the lines originally looked like they can. 🙂
And, yes, your lines can be any length at all.
Looking forward to color or typing, whichever you land on! 🙂
bethany says
Thank you for this!
Tricia Stohr-Hunt says
Bethany, I’m having the same thought. I’m going to play around with writing and arranging it instead of typing.
Can’t wait to see what you share!
Bethany Rohde says
Hello, lovely Poetry Club! For now, I will type up my cento here. If I am able to post in color later, I’ll drop off a link.
::
The Temple in the Wood
a cento, by Bethany Rohde
Perhaps someone once read to you
Friends, let us enter the little frame
extended around this moment
—a magical cave of heated cotton—
Disappear
into a network of belonging. Bouquet
of over-the-top dinner plate dahlias
sun-seeped, sweet cloud inside
::
Cento lines and phrases from:
“Boating in Autumn,” from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems
“Bookseller,” by Laurie Klein
“Nestament,” by Laurie Klein
“Kindness,” by Anya Krugovoy Silver
”Renaming,” by Megan Wheeler
“Joy,” by Jessica Gigot
“Small Ode to Laundry on the Line,” by Andrea Potos
“Hot Tea,” by Lahab Assef Al-Jundi
Bethany says
I’m playing with layout options this morning…
L.L. Barkat says
A lovely cento, Bethany. This feels like a form to try more of. 🙂
(Looking forward to your layout pick! 🙂 )
Bethany Rohde says
(Thank you, LL. Here’s a small edit. I made an adjustment to the title (which is not from another poem) and moved the word “bouquet” down to be with its friends, which tied in with the sense of belonging.)
::
Cento Quilt
by Bethany Rohde
Perhaps someone once read to you
Friends, let us enter the little frame
extended around this moment
—a magical cave of heated cotton—
Disappear
into a network of belonging.
Bouquet of over-the-top dinner plate dahlias
sun-seeped, sweet cloud inside
::
Cento lines and phrases from:
“Bookseller,” by Laurie Klein
“Nestament,” by Laurie Klein
“Kindness,” by Anya Krugovoy Silver
”Renaming,” by Megan Wheeler
“Joy,” by Jessica Gigot
“Small Ode to Laundry on the Line,” by Andrea Potos
“Hot Tea,” by Lahab Assef Al-Jundi
Tricia Stohr-Hunt says
I really like this Bethany, particularly “disappear/into a network of belonging.”
The other thing I really like about this is that you’ve selected lines from a different set of poems than I did, so I now must go explore them!
Bethany Rohde says
Thank you, Tricia. The poets sure gave us a feast of delights to sample from, didn’t they? Fun that although they are from different poems, our centos have one poet in common—my friend, Laurie Klein. 🙂
Bethany says
Here’s the cento on physical paper. I rewrote by hand many times and just have to let it go now. 😉
https://substack.com/profile/40441376-bethany-r/note/c-42894827