‘Putting Words Next to Silence’ Cento
by Kathleen Gunton
I didn’t die. There must be nourishment in the air
And this is why I have come to believe
All that is beneath us that is not light has stopped
By putting words next to silence—
Perhaps in a fit of ecstasy—
Something glazed our eyes and held our attention
A conical explosion from the sky
It was light from the stars
In the bright sky toward which we look to see
I stood where I might see what was asked for
I know what spoke
Like a mother’s breath at the ear of her child
The white that surrounds the voice that says
You are growing all up out of yourself
After that I was another person
But I was happy, and my happiness made others happy
Alike we choose to believe, but it
Is neither myself nor not myself
Nowhere ourselves but everywhere
Now you see a man at peace, happy and happier yet
And all this in a moment smaller than a second
Source: Drawn by Stones, by Earth, by Things that Have Been in the Fire by Marvin Bell
Kathleen Gunton is a poet/photographer who believes one art feeds another. Her words and images often appear in the same journal. Over fifty of her cento poems have appeared in publications such as Amethyst Review, Commonweal, The Cresset, Friends Journal, and Rhino—to name a few.
