I looked into my heart to write 7
a touch of cold in autumn night; 1
born of my voiceless time, your steps. 3
Remember me when I am dead. 11
Remember me when I am dead. 11
The dove, descending, breaks the air 15
when snow like sheep lay in the fold: 16
ghost-grey the fall of night. 5
Had I but lived a hundred years ago. 6
Had I but lived a hundred years ago. 6
Out of the wood of thoughts, that grows by night, 9
the seagull, spreadeagled, splayed on the wind. 13
You know what it is to be born alone ... 19
Remember me when I am dead. 11
Remember me when I am dead. 11
Born of my voiceless time, your steps, 3
a touch of cold in autunm night; 1
I looked into my heart to write. 7
.
.
.
Author notes
Poetry Form used: Cento
cen·to (snt)
n. pl. cen·tos
A literary work pieced together from the works of several authors.
www.thefreedictionary.com/cento
Index Lines checked:
George Barker: Summer Song (I looked into my heart to write)
Thomas Ernest Hulme: Autumn (A touch of cold in the Autumn night)
C. Day Lewis: The Footsteps (Born of my voiceless time, you steps)
Walter de la Mare: A Robin (Ghost-grey the fall of night)
Thomas Hardy: At Lulworth Cove a Century Back (Had I but lived a hundred ago)
Edward Thomas: Cock-Crow (Out of the wood of thoughts that grows by night)
Keith Douglas: Simplify me (Remember me when I am dead)
T.S.Elliot: Little Gidding (No. 4 of Four Quartets) IV (The dove descending breaks the air)
Geoffrey Hill: In Memory of Jane Fraser (When snow like sheep lay in the fold)
IMPORTANT:
The numbers at the end of the lines indicate the first lines of the index used. The words are NOT mine, but TITLES linked to form a meaningful poem. Of course this is NOT how I personally construct my poetry, but is ONLY done to show how selective word association may find its echo in the inner world of a poet. The repetition is an important part of the beautiful lines being reinforced in the message. Thank you. Myra Lochner.
In a list
A contest entry
- Index of First Lines by Keith.
525 points, ended March 29, 2008, 25 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 10 of 10
-
Well. I have to take back my initial response (late night and tired). You have taken the trouble to research the lines and I hope your list encourages others to read the poems. Thank you for your time and trouble, and for entering the contest. And just look at the controversy engendered here! I like it.
-
-
I must thank you ...
for your initial response ... It enticed me to write more! LOL I do not only like this contest ... I LOVE IT! And I cannot help giggling in anticipation for the hardship you will have judging all these entries ...
But I am sure you will find tremendous joy and gratification in reading all ...
-
-
o I like this
a lot
Locked into my heart to write
born of cold and autumn night
born of voiceless, time had slept
to remind me I am left.
To remember
dove, descending, broken air
snow like sheep lay in the fold
ghost-grey fall the fall of light
Had I lived off why and might:
Had I lived years ago
out of the wood, thoughts grown by night,
seagull, spreadeagled, windfight
to be born alone
is to remember death
Born of voiceless time, your steps
a touch of cold, the autumn night
looked into my heart
-
-
OH! I loved this! It is brilliant ...
please enter it ...
I have no clue why, but I am crying. This is becoming truly a catharsis.
-
-
This is a cento - and if you credited each line to its own author it would be done correctly - a recognized form in which poets take lines from other poems and reinterpret them in a new context. It has been done for centuries, if not millennia.
I like it, your work brought fresh insight and expressed somewhat of your own thoughts.
-
-
Thank you so much, Margaret ...
for your comment -- accurate as always.
I am so glad you like it. Seeing that those words are not mine, I can truly enjoy playing the beauty of them, like plucking at the strings of a wondrous instrument, bringing forth soul music. And yes: the poem totally said what I wanted to say. Thank you for being perceptive.
-
-
Allow me to respectfully disagree with Keith. This is the essence of the creative process. Taking disparate lines from unrelated poems and integrating them into a cohesive whole, that is unique and meaningful, is exactly what we do all the time. And to do it in such and clever and well structured way strikes me as remarkable.
No word I've ever written has belonged only to me -- others have used them for a long time before I came along. No idea, thought, or feeling is unique to me alone -- if it were it would, by definition, be meaningless to others. There is, in fact, nothing new under the sun. You have done overtly what the rest of us do without attribution every day. We read each other and use each others' words as inspiration to create our own images and phrases -- inspired directly by the words and phrases of others.
Then we give each other feedback. If someone suggests that I change something in my poem, and I make the recommended change, am I no longer "creating?"
OK, I've had my rant and I realize this is just my personal opinion and other opinions might be just as valid, but I prefer not to romanticise. Words are building blocks, we look for new ways to arrange them so they communicate an idea or feeling and it is a very creative process. But, the basic material exists before we get our hands on it and our job is to sequence it in meaningful ways.
Personally, I like this poem. While it may not be great art, it is unique and manages to express a great deal while staying within some strict limitations.
And certainly thought provoking. It sure caught my attention.
I'm impressed with the general flow, the imagery, and the way all the parts come together to make the whole. Let me put it this way: if I didn't know it was made up of prewritten lines, I probably would not have guessed that. That's the creative aspect of it. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts, which is what we are all working towards.
Good work.
CaliOkie
-
-
Thank you for the support, Garrison!
I agree with you of course: the creative process in the execution of the poem as I have done it, lies in the fact that unrelated words are stringed to create a meaningful poem; not only meaningful, but a poem reflecting emotional content, universally shared. I opted to use repetition, for as you know, repetition is a desensitizing agent, if I may dare to be multi-disciplinary here.
As Keith is the host of this contest, he most certainly knows what he wants and I am afraid this is NOT it! But, as I told him too, I loved how this all came together and yes, for me it is a unique poem, which line by line gave recognition to the original.
Blessed be, Poet, and thank you for a much appreciated somment.
Myra
-
-
When I said use one or more of the first lines in a poem of your own, I expected more than simply rearranging the lines in a different order. I can't see any creative process in that. Sorry.
-
-
Hallo Keith!
I must have misread your words, Poet. Sorry for the communication gap. I thought that you asked EXACTLY what I did here! I shall do another entry, but THIS one I really like. So I shall leave it in for other poets to see what NOT to do!
Nevertheless, I enjoy this contest. Let us see what my Muses will do unrestrictively ...
Dankie!
-
Adding your comment:
1 - 10 of 10
