Yesterday, I wrote a blog post for Medium.com that was published by Globetrotters.
It was a post about the Hawaiian town of Lahaina, which as most of you have heard, was devastated by wildfires earlier this week. I’ve visited Lahaina three times from 2009-2022.
My post is linked above in the first sentence. I encourage you to read it, as it will give you background for the cento poem (my first ever) that I wrote last night for Poetry Friday, today.
A Cento for Lahaina After The Wildfire
I stand quietly on Front Street
balancing the sun on my head. (Shaffer, Lahaina Noon)
Large sea turtles and some whales
will outlive us, water a manifestation of wind in another dimension. (Dodd Lee, Suffering the Unattainable)
The enigma of August. (Rappleye, A Path Between Houses)
What does the sun see through
pages of smoke? (Muske-Dukes, Wildfire Moon)
I whirled through transfigurations up and down,
transfigurations of size and shape and place: (Ammons, Still)
Some say the world will end in fire (Frost, Fire and Ice).
To think that we are now here, and bear our part! (Whitman, To Think of Time).
© Draft, Carol Labuzzetta, 2023
Why a Cento?
Cento means patchwork. The Hawaiian islands are patchwork stitched together by history.
The authors of each line are noted at the end of the phrase with a link provided to where I found their poems. The cento combines lines from different poems to create a new piece.
This was a fun exercise for me and introduced me to the work of many poets.
Call for Submissions
My Ekphrasic Poetry Nature Anthology for children ages 10 and up is open for submissions.
The link to my submission guidelines is found at the top of my blog in the menu that runs horizontally across the page. If you have trouble accessing it or trouble with the submission process, please contact me. I’ll be glad to try and help you.
The photos you choose to submit that match your poems need to be emailed to me, following the labeling and submission guidelines (please check these first). The file upload boxes are not showing – this is a WordPress Glitch – for they show in my post/file draft. The email to do that is labcar81@gmail.com.
Thank you for your consideration and pass the word!
The deadline for submissions is November 1, 2023. Acceptances are on a rolling basis.
Today is Poetry Friday. Our round-up host is Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference. Thanks for hosting Tabatha and for coordinating our summer poetry swap. It has been so much fun!
The Apples in My Orchard 
Carol, congratulations on your Medium post being reposted by the Globetrotters.
The lines that most resonate with me as I think about Maui is the one by Muske-Dukes:
“What does the sun see through
pages of smoke?”
Thinking of the Hawaiian islands today. 😦
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Thank you Denise. I like how the cento came out, especially since it was my first. The Globetrotters group has published a fair amount of my work and I enjoy writing travel pieces so it’s a good fit.
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I also like the line about the sun and smoke, in addition to the description of water as “a manifestation of wind in another dimension.” Thank you for sharing this poetic collage of a painful time.
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Thank you Tabatha! That line seems to resonate with a lot of people. I like it too.
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My goodness…you’ve gotten right to the heart of it. These fires in Hawaii are shocking and awful. Beautiful cento.
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Thank you, Linda! I am proud of how the cento turned out, especially since it was my first ever attempt!
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Carol, that is an amazingly powerful poem. It hits me right in the heart.
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Thanks so much, Tracey! I appreciate it!
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I am so sad about Lahaina. Thank you for writing a beautiful poem of remembrance for them, Carol. “Pages of smoke” is a heartbreaking line.
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Thank you Linda. I think a lot of us are hurting for the people that called Lahaina their home.
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What a beautiful cento, Carol!
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Thanks, Patricia.
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How powerful to read poetry through the lens of the tragedy on Maui.
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Thank you, Mary Lee.
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The cento is beautiful. The fires are so awful and your cento evokes so much emotion.
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Thank you, Karen, I’m so glad you liked it.
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Carol, This is a beautiful cento. It’s so hard to watch so much devastation.
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Thank you Marcie. I like how it came out. It is so hard to watch those films from Maui on the news.
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I heard about the Banyan tree on the news and the photos of it “through pages of smoke” in the heart of the devastation was overwhelming. Thank you for your heartfelt poem.
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Thank you for reading and for your comments, Rose. I appreciate it. It hurts to watch something so beloved suffer.
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Carol, congratulations on your blog “post for Medium.com that was published by Globetrotters”. This news is exciting. There are so many lines in your centro that ring true, especially the last two. What a wonderful cento. Keep on writing them. This type of poem is like putting together a puzzle.
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Thank you so much, Carol. You always know the right thing to say. I will try and write more cento’s. I really enjoyed this one, even though the subject matter was so sad (perhaps that helped).
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Thanks for your strong poem Carol and informative article too. My heart aches at the thought of that Banyan tree totally being consumed by the fires. And yes, “What does the sun see through/
pages of smoke?”
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Thanks, Michelle. I had to process my feelings about the banyan tree through finding some words – words that I didn’t seem to have at the time. The cento was a perfect solution.
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What a difficult topic and poem to write and yet you found a beautiful solution.
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Thank you, Karen. I’m glad you liked it.
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How interesting! I’ve never seen this type of writing before. I like it a lot. 😊
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Thank you so much! I apologize for the late reply!
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