Cento Selections of Issue #15 Spring 2018

Dear Readers,
 
The Jet Fuel Review editors are excited to share with you the noteworthy gem of Issue 15, our cento collection. “Cento” is Latin for “patchwork” and in terms of poetic form, a cento is a “patchwork” of lines from various works. According to the introduction of Hosidius Geta’s “Medea:” A Virgilian Cento, by Joseph J. Mooney, Geta’s “Medea” is the first recorded cento, dating back between 200 C.E. and 300 A.D. Classified as a Virgilian cento, “Medea” is composed of lines from works by the ancient Roman poet, Virgil. A Frankenstein-like composition, each line is carefully sutured to the next in order to create thought-provoking images and metaphors that seamlessly weld with one another, and ultimately crafts a piece that pays homage to other’s work while creating a new text.

We are thrilled to feature a wide array of pieces that showcase the dynamicity of this experimental stitching form such as Brianna Noll’s “L.A. Centos” in which she incorporates lines from well-known films such as Nightcrawler, Real Women Have Curves, and 500 Days of Summer. Along with Noll, the Special Section includes centos by notable writers such as David Lehman, editor in chief for The Best American Poetry series, poet and ONU professor Jennifer Moore, 2017 Tuscon Literary Award winner and editor Lynne Thompson, and collaborators Ariana Sophia-Kartsonis and Stephanie Rogers. Last, but definitely not least, we are excited to publish Lewis University’s very own, Dominique Dusek, whose cento “Water Song,” is a fusion of images that are both rich like “the wine dark sea wreck,” yet sustain intimacy like “two birds coupling.”
 
We hope you both enjoy and appreciate the thoughtful artistry that is involved when constructing the cento, and hopefully discover a newfound love for this longstanding, intricate form.
 
Read on,
 
Zakiya Cowan & the Jet Fuel Review Editors

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Dan Dorman
Holy Book Cento
Holy Book Cento

Dominique Dusek
Water Song

Rochelle Hurt
Mouth Cento: The Trick
Mouth Cento: The Heart
Mouth Cento: The Wound

Trevor Ketner
Window Cento
Silent Cento
Sound Cento
Copy Cento

Laurie Kolp
The 12-Step Meeting
Letting Go of Resentment
The Witness

David Lehman
Touchstones
Cento: The True Romantics

Holly Mitchell
Falling out of the tether
He handled antlers,
Summer-sore horses

Jennifer Moore
Cento [A single deer stepped]
Cento [A little satin-like she entered the evening,]
Cento [Like a pond in winter]

Erin Murphy
Your Mother’s Maiden Name is Not a Secret

Brianna Noll
L.A. Cento #6
L.A. Cento #7
L.A. Cento #8

C. Russell Price
On Missing My Lover Who Agreed With The The Concept of Past Lives, I Read Moby Dick
On Reading a Copy of Pushkin I Stole from My Childhood Rapist, a Cento

Ariana-Sophia Kartsonis & Stephanie Rogers
You Can Try to Strangle Light

Lynne Thompson
Earth Omen, Earth Omen, Will You Be Mine?
Jane Hirshfield Speaks of Life, says