Choose the line(s) with which you would like to open your cento, or close it, or both. Try not to base these choices on a preconceived idea of how you want the cento to turn out. Feel your way through the process, allowing the cento’s primary theme(s) and form to emerge.
Now continue to intuitively arrange all the lines until you have a complete, but not final, draft of your cento.
As you arrange the lines in this draft, you might discover that
You don’t want to use every excerpt you’d gathered. That’s okay!
Maybe you need more fairy dust. Go back to the book and look for more!
There’s no required length to a cento. Follow your instincts!
Share your cento’s opening or closing line(s) in the comments! (You can always change your mind!)
P.S. If you’d like to chat with other Rafters about this quest, get the Raft app! Look for the 30-Day Quest thread to connect with other questers!
P.S.S. Remember our “Cento Celebration” at 6:00PM Central on February 27! Registration is required for this free event. Register here.
Beginning: The hinge between past and future swings wide within us.
Ending: This was a radical pronouncement.
I fooled around with it tonight and removed some sentences but kept the beginning and end. I feel like I kinda had 2 of them in there. I might still end up with 2 if I find the right magic to knit the 2nd one together.