Holy Book Cento by Dan Dorman

Issue 9

I see the gods in your body
falling from the holy tree—

they look older than men can
ever be—old like hills, like stars

they say to a mountain
move from here

and wait quietly while the mud
settles on wide blue plains

Source Text: Various Spiritual texts

Method: This cento is an attempt at unification of faith(s) through language and image. Each book used in the process surrounding this cento carries specific tones, sentence types, and metaphors, so in the forming of these poems I had to mortar together the
rather disparate sources to build a cohesive voice and message. It is my hope that these poems mean something particularly unparticular, something interested in the all encompassing.

Dan Dorman is not a human fish. Dan Dorman breathes high atmosphere air and star stuff. Dan Dorman writes poems that look how they feel. Dan Dorman enjoys poetry and birds who sing.