Note on Centos

From the Latin word for “patchwork,” the cento (or collage poem) is a poetic form composed entirely of lines from poems by other poets.

Some poems in this collection came from an exercise in creating centos. The mentor texts used in class included:

• “City Summer, Country Summer” by Kiese Laymon • George Washington’s “Farewell Address” • “Corners” by Enzo Silon Surin • “A Young Man” by Jericho Brown • “GTA: San Andreas (or, Grove Street, Bitch!)” by Jacob Sanez • “Famous” by Naomi Nye Shihab • “Break” by Aracelis Girmay

Students were also encouraged to seek out their own inspiration, so you may find collaged lines in some of the poems in this book that you recognize from poems and song lyrics. This is intentional and honors the cento form.

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