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

Love,
what is love?
I tried to answer,
but our language had been lost
(and forgotten).
So, love’s face may still seem love
(to me).

Everything carries me
(to you).

Love,
what is love?
I tried to answer,
but our language had been lost
(and forgotten).

If little by little,
you stop loving me,
I shall stop loving you…

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me…

Love,
what is love?
I tried to answer,
but
our language had been lost.

If I were a poet,
I’d kidnap you.
Lyric you in lilacs.

If suddenly
you forget me,
do not look for me.

Isabelle Palerma

Poems Used:

• “Love — What is Love?”, Robert Louis Stevenson.
• “In the Dusky Path of a Dream”, Rabindranath Tagore.
• “Sonnet 93”, William Shakespeare.
• “If You Forget Me”, Pablo Neruda.
• “Kidnap Poem”, Nikki Giovanni.