Dan Dorman

Holy Book Cento

my brother built a city
a measure of what endures
 
it had no need for sun or moon
like uncarved blocks of wood
 
he fashioned blessings
which announced themselves
 
on the broad road the world walks
there in the moonlight
 
he dipped his hand
as you would an autumn lily
 
into the water
and the water became sweet
 
like a cloud of dew
when the blossom is over
 
they say death gave up the dead
for the beloved city
 
built and roofed with cloud
the darkness of every blue

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Holy Book Cento

there in the woods a little while
in the wilderness
 
where the sun shines
as the waves of the sea
 
in harmony
with the wild beasts
 
who have sopped up
the wine of ignorance
 
[ ] grieve [ ] beyond grief
standing equal
 
among all creatures
your footprints [ ]

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Sources: The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna’s Counsel in Time of War. Translated by Barbara Stoler Miller, Quality Paperback Book Club, 1986.The Bible. English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, 2007. The Corpus Hermeticum: Initiation into Hermetics, The Hermetica of Hermes Trismegistus. Translated by G.R.S. Mead, Pantianos Classics, 07 November 2016. The Dhammapada. Translated by Glenn Wallis, The Modern Library, 2004. Neihardt, John G. Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux. University of Nebraska Press, 1988. Tsu, Lao. Tao Te Ching. Translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English, Vintage-Random House, 1989.




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Dan Dorman teaches at Cleveland State University and his writing can be found at Burning House Press online, Word for/Word, and soon at Rubbertop Review and jubilat. Find him @dormanpoet