Cento Sermon

16 Oct, 2025

From the Latin word for “patchwork,” the cento (or collage poem) is a poetic form composed entirely of lines from poems by other poets.

In general, we both thought you got more
from staring at one picture for twenty minutes
Than from looking at twenty pictures for a minute each. ¹
It takes a few miles to awake my soul, to clear my head, to hear my breathing.²
There is much to learn from the natural world.³

Maybe we want to hurt trees so much because they live so much longer than we do.⁴
She called in her soul to come and see.⁵
The call to an examined life begins.⁶
Help me to remember that living is meant to be a pleasurable experience⁷

Nickels, quarters, dimes
that could not open my door, the seat of my pants
was wet and no one would be home for hours.⁸
There was a time when people wanted to be free from bosses,
now they want to be free from bus drivers.⁹

I wanted to love the world without taking anything from it.¹⁰
It is a lifestyle that pounds home the reality that liberty and freedom are deeply related to loneliness and isolation.¹¹

After all, we do owe everything we are to others. This is simply true.¹²
It is in collectivities that we find reservoirs of hope and optimism.¹³
And I guess the good is us too
but I don't believe in greatness anymore
because glory isn't possible in America.¹⁴
Still if you ask me, some parts are just as beautiful as my dream version.¹⁵
It feels like grabbing something from the future,
grabbing a few seconds of who we want to be.¹⁶
In truth, all sensation is already memory.¹⁷

How monotonous the tyrants and how diverse the saints.¹⁸
Associate with dream makers and avoid cynics.¹⁹
We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.²⁰
We are working towards a future where neighbors are authentically connected.²¹
It’s astounding the first time you realize that a stranger has a body– the realization that he has a body makes him a stranger.²²
We should be very patient with each other I think.²³
What was intimacy if not a space to command and to listen?²⁴
A heaven wider than androgyny is sugar on my tongue.²⁵

Try to imagine a world worth living in,
and then ask yourself if that isn’t worth fighting for.²⁶
We got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.²⁷
True improvisation comes out of hard work.²⁸
We believe it enough to act as though it's true.²⁹
This is true all the way down to the level of the algorithm.³⁰

A guy who couldn’t control himself was great but a guy who would good naturedly go along with whatever gross thing you wanted?³¹
It turned out to be an acquired taste, and she chose to de-acquire it.³²
To oppose vulgarity is inevitably to be vulgar.³³
This is the ideological work that the prison performs.³⁴

It pertains to the balance sheet and budget, not the body.³⁵
Living is such wet data.³⁶

Science explicates, poetry implicates.³⁷
I developed a sense that meaning itself is resident in the rhythms of words and sentences and paragraphs.³⁸
Its success lies in repetition, diffusion, and the social cooperation of those who use it in the enduring force of interaction.³⁹
It’s deliberate, meant to be savored.⁴⁰

Perhaps that was just what poetry was: meaning through sound.⁴¹
It should not replace or disrupt anything good that already exists, and this includes family and community relationships.⁴²

Why does the health of the body and the health of the earth decline together?⁴³
Is the existence of a single human being such a bulky thing?⁴⁴
Don’t we want our sexual relationships to be about more than relief?⁴⁵
A woman’s life is endless work and suffering.⁴⁶

Is female labor undervalued because its invisible
or is it invisible because we don’t value it?⁴⁷
The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.⁴⁸
And what is there that is not female? Tell me.⁴⁹
It takes all we have to know the truth, to believe in ourselves
without reference to moon or magic.⁵⁰

Though I have been scorned for it,
never let me be afraid to use the word beautiful.⁵¹
I am certain you are highly valued and badly needed
right where you are.⁵²
You are the eighth day.⁵³

So ask yourself, has this moment earned my nakedness?⁵⁴
The most beautiful part of your body is where it's headed.
& remember loneliness is still time spent with the world⁵⁵
Loneliness is painful, solitude is peaceful.⁵⁶

She became human in her solitude.⁵⁷
Silence is the cornerstone of character.⁵⁸
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.⁵⁹
That is peace education.⁶⁰

I stand at the door and knock;⁶¹
Instructions for living a life: Pay attention.⁶²
Attention is the beginning of devotion.⁶³
Pick the one that will make you cum.⁶⁴
Please free your own pen.⁶⁵
Because we cannot simply live.⁶⁶
And so on, without hope of change or peace.⁶⁷

Stars lie to each other, that’s why they flicker.⁶⁸
Is God being or pure force? The wind Or what commands it?⁶⁹

There are poems inside me,
and if I live long enough, I wish to bring them to birth.⁷⁰
Writing sentences felt like construction,
and, also, simultaneously, a steady, slow excavation.⁷¹

The less you say, the more the people listen.⁷²
You’ve made a structural mistake with life and death, my dear.⁷³
When my art was out in the world, so was my spirit.⁷⁴
Out of this astounding, intolerable pain came joy⁷⁵
I was less surprised than others, who lived in a world that used to make sense.⁷⁶

I will circle the world many times over
telling everyone about its weight, its beauty,
and what an honor it was to have known it.⁷⁷
Only this actual moment is life.⁷⁸

We may have drunk a million cups of tea,
but we have never tasted this one before.⁷⁹
Each time was a new time
and he never thought about the past when he was doing it.⁸⁰
To say no to a new day would be unthinkable.⁸¹

Blessed is the gambler
Who has lost everything
Except the desire
To gamble \ Once more⁸²

To see the Summer Sky
Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie -⁸³
To behold is to be beholden to.⁸⁴
What is the human race, anyway, but a multitude of outlets for desires?⁸⁵

If I’d have wanted civilization,
I’d have stayed in Tennessee and wrote poetry for a living,⁸⁶
Who but I should be the poet of the comrades?⁸⁷
Because the woods belong to those who cannot die.⁸⁸
I store my wealth in the belly of my brother.⁸⁹
No matter where its seed falls, it makes a tree which struggles to reach the sky.⁹⁰
Like a tree planted by the water," the song goes, "we shall not be moved."⁹¹

If you live long enough,
the culture will find the truth of your eccentricity and embrace it.⁹²
The more transparent the writing, the more visible the poetry⁹³

Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom.
One can find it, live it, do wonders through it,
but one cannot communicate and teach it.⁹⁴

Those who desire to print a book should desire to become a book.⁹⁵
That is why I became a footnote.⁹⁶
Practically everyone out here thinks I’m a nut. This is highly encouraging.⁹⁷
Can human nature not survive Without a listener?⁹⁸
Youth is given; age is achieved.⁹⁹
But until then, what an astonishment to breathe on this breathing planet.¹⁰⁰

#mdlm #poetry