Excerpt from “Cento for the Night I Said, ‘I Love You’”

by Nicole Sealey

And it came to pass that meaning faltered, came detached.

I learned my name was not my name.

I was not myself. Myself

resembles something else

that had nothing to do with me, except

I am again the child with too many questions

as old as light. I am always learning the same thing:

one day all this will only be memory.

One day soon. For no good reason.

Excerpt from “Cento for the Night I Said, ‘I Love You’”: The excerpt is comprised entirely of lines borrowed from the following poets (in order of appearance): Carl Phillips, Robert Hayden, Eavan Boland, Anne Waldman, Dorianne Laux, Natasha Trethewey, Eric Gamalinda, Galway Kinnell and John Murillo.

Published on August 4, 2017