Wednesday, April 23, 2008

My heart knows a mystery old as life:

I have to save myself.
I have to save myself.
I have to save myself.


I know this much, my place
if I survive:

A life where hope outshines fears.
A life where hope outshines fears.
A life where hope outshines fears.


I tiptoe out of the room.
as if you were looking at me-

I have to save myself.
I have to save myself.
I have to save myself.

I leave you, my muse.
My excuse? I tore my own soul-
pushed the syringe.

Howling for help.
Howling for help.
Howling for help.

I have to save myself,
save myself,
save myself.




Note-
This is a cento. Major thanks to Gautami Tripathy, Lissa, Mariacristina, Lirone, and Jilly Poet. If you would like to read more centos or like to learn how to write your own then visit Patchwork Poetry.

9 comments:

writerwoman said...

Work process:

Struggled terribly this week. Changed pronoun and tenses in several lines. Prayed. Fretted. Erased often. Changed punctuation. Thought about giving up. Finally stitched together something that sort of makes sense. Thanked God.

paisley said...

i have yet to look at the poems... i want to do that and then come back to this,, as i don't want to delve too deeply before i use the lines myself...

Scot said...

makes sense--well done

Anonymous said...

I like the repetition, it reenforce the words so much more

paisley said...

i am thinking maybe you need to get a friendlier muse......

Stacey said...

It does make sense! Glad that you did not give up!

Anonymous said...

You really know how to use repetition to good effect! A poem that speaks of painful places but doesn´t forget hope - it was worth struggling with your muse, I feel!

Cynthia said...

Very zen-like, and excellent
mantras inside this poem.

Anonymous said...

Hey, sorry it has taken me so long to get back to all the centos. I was offline for five days. An eternity!

Your poem reads like a song, especially because of the refrains and the spare lines.It's a lament, as I read it, a prayer for grace. The narrator is in a dark place, bent on survival.

Wonderful work in making a new piece, all your own.