Two Cento Poems by Patrice Boyer Claeys

 

 

Heavy with the round scent 

 

of pleasure 

enchanted flowers 

jazz the dark 

night air. 

 

Pale curved bodies 

blooming in the dark 

suggest the first letting go 

of real love. 

 

Voluptuous 

petaled lips 

can leave you longing— 

 

liquid thick 

alone, dreaming. 

 

The single gardenia lifts it odour.

 

 

Cento sources:  Rachel Sherwood, Ben Fama, Arthur Gregor, Linda Hull, C. Dale Young, Elsa Gidlow, Carol Muske-Dukes, William Ford, Rae Armantrout, Jenny Justice, Talia Pinzari, Jason Guriel, Meghan O’Rourke, Douglas Kearney, Mary Frances Wagner

 

 

Delicate flowers of sin 

 

how dangerous 

they look 

their red flags 

a warning, a spell. 

 

But how 

beautiful 

they are 

leaping like jewels 

scarlet flames 

burning the fields. 

 

At the throat 

of the flower 

black polished dots 

promise 

pleasure 

forgetfulness 

the path 

of sorrow and deceit. 

 

All my pretty ones 

who long to be seduced—

 

 

Cento Sources: Countee Cullen, Jessica Hagedorn, Tui Scanlan, Martin Espada, Ian Carino, Charles Reznikoff, D. H. Lawrence, Juliana Spahr, Josephine Miles, Albert Rice, Linda Bierds, Rae Armantrout, Galway Kinnell, Amy Lowell, Thom Donovan, Ronald Wallace, Billy Collins, Henry W. Rago, Adah Isaacs Menken, Anne Sexton, Assetou Xango

Patrice Boyer Claeys is a Chicago poet with five published collections. Her most recent endeavors, Honey from the Sun and Earth Cafeteria, contain centos exploring the secret life of fruit and vegetables, accompanied by original photos by Gail Goepfert. Recent work appears in North Dakota Quarterly, Sunlight Press, Scapegoat Review, Passion Fruit Review and Villas Avenue. Nominated for both Pushcart and Best of the Net prizes, Patrice is at work on a manuscript celebrating flowers Find her at www.patriceboyerclaeys.com.