Last week, I shared a cento that I wrote using titles from Ada Limón’s poems in THE HURTING KIND. This week, I’d like to share an amazing gift I received as a summer poem swap. Truth be told, they were ALL amazing gifts, but this one was seriously over the top amazing! Check this out:
Doing the Work
Your hope must be a verb
for change
holding everything in balance
many small acts
make a big difference
They give life, rather than taking it.
Our work done best, is done en masse.
This spring we’re planting, saying please
We’re Cheering for you! Be Courageous!
A cento poem ©Denise Krebs, 2022
From Mary Lee Hahn’s April 2022 “Hope in a Time of Climate Crisis” poetry collection
Poem titles for lines 1-9
1. The Thing Is
2. The Truth
3. What If
4. A Small Patch
5. A Small Patch
6. What I Know About Farming
7. Dandelions
8. Daily Alchemy
9. Dear Generation C
Wow, right? Just…wow.
And there were more gifts besides the poem box! Handmade dishcloths and scrubbers and a for-real slice of life and learning.
Gratitudes to Denise for this ever-so-thoughtfully crafted mandala-cento box and to Tabatha for organizing the swaps!
Not sure why it’s hard to get to Denise’s blog via InLinkz (is it just me?), but you can follow this link to see the haiku bookmark I made for her.
Head over to Kat Apel’s blog to “Katch up” on all she’s been up to these past few months and to see what all the other Poetry Friday Peeps have to offer this week!
A(nother) Year of Reading 
Everything about this is beautiful!
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Oh. What an amazing gift. It’s perfect, Mary Lee. (I loved the cento in itself – but to see it in use (and that mandala!) is just lovely. Amazing! (Well done, Denise!))
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FABULOUS!!! Poetry 🎶 Singing!!! Thanks ! ☺️
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Inventive, perceptive, and beautiful!
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Amazing gift from Denise-filled with beauty, creativity, and imagination.
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Wow is right!!! Perfect swap!!!
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I want to write a golden shovel with that first line, “Your hope must be a verb.” Love this idea of a cento-box! Gonna steal that.
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Mary Lee, thank you for your kind words. It is fun to see a picture of the mandala box. It was a labor of love. I enjoyed making each mark.
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OK, that is truly amazing and so incredibly thoughtful to go through your poems to create a cento of your lines. Again, poetry swaps for the win, Tabatha as organizer for the win…and swapper creativity for the WIN! I am just loving that canvas…and might, maybe, gonna copy that idea! Shhhhhh. Don’t tell.
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I’m repeating “WOW!”, Mary Lee. It is wonderful! Thanks for the link to Denise. I couldn’t tell even who that one link was. Happy weekend!
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Astonishing! The poetry swaps are magical–and way out of my league. But I love seeing what y’all do and create for each other. Love this!
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What an incredible gift from Denise! And how affirming of your own creative work. Poetry Friday peeps are the best.
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I just love this! What a personal poetry swap. I am loving watching your mandalas each week.
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Oh my! To receive such a gift… What a treasure! And I enjoyed clicking into the various poems. Thank you!
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As others have said: Wow! I can’t think of a more appropriate gift for you, Mary Lee! I’ll be carrying your words of wisdom into my day. Thank you for sharing!
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