Bitter Revelation, Jensen Martin

When a mans dying, he has a subject

Because all night you have not turned to us or spoken

It is time for you to wake; your dreams were never very deep.
Murmur something unequivocally precious.

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Dreaming back through life, Your timeand mine accelerating

toward Apocalypse,

Though youre not old now, thats left here with me

I love you, little friendhere I am, my sweetest pea.

You were not ready and not reconciled, feeling
As uncompleted as a child.

Id never seen such rage in you before.

There is nowhere you are not,
Nowhere you are not not.

There, rest. No more suffering for you. I know where youve

gone, its good.

Exactly half the phenomenal world is gone,

I was totally intact and didnt know.

Please let your final dream be a man not quite your size
Losing the whole world but still here

Singing your secret names till the nights gone.

Jensen Martin
Prof. Fearman
ENGL 211-01
9 March 2016
Bitter Revelation Cento Response
At first glance, this cento assignment seemed very simpleafter all, one of the most
challenging parts of poetry is finding the right words, and by already having the verses at my
disposal, it would be more like constructing a poem rather than writing one. However, I
discovered very quickly that just because the words are already there, does not mean it is easier
to find the right ones to both express the intended meaning of the poem, and to fit in with the rest
of the verses. The different styles of the poets I chose is still relatively noticeable, but the
individual messages manage to come together in harmony rather than standing out starkly
against one another.
For this cento, I selected the poems that stood out to me the most, either in utilizing
poetic language effectively to the convey strong emotions that come with loss, or in somehow
relating to my own experiences with death. For example, Terminal Resemblance by Louise
Gluck reminded me of my grandfather and how he would have talked to me about his
approaching death had he chosen to speak about it. Although I could not find a way to
incorporate my favourite line of the poem, But for a change, my father didnt just stand there. /
This time, he waved, I still felt that some part of the poem deserved a place in my cento, namely
at the very beginning. Another poem I included that had personal significance to me was Beside
the Bed by Charlotte Mew. The reason for this is that when my grandmother was dying, my
family and I spent a lot of time sitting beside her bed, very solemnly, and watching her sleep. I

really identified with the line, It is time for you to wake; your dreams were never very deep
because although I knew it was futile, I spent most of these visits willing her to just sit up and
stretch, as though she had only been sleeping.
The poems for this assignment that I selected for the profound nature of their verses were
the portion of Kaddish by Allen Ginsberg, Lament by Thom Gunn, and No Goodbyes and
Half Life by Paul Monette. The lines from Kaddish that I included inspired the title of the
cento itself, because while other lines urge whoever has died to stay alive, the lines by Ginsberg
demonstrate that the speaker has come to terms with the death of this person, that although they
are unhappy with the circumstances, they are thankful that the deceased is no longer suffering. I
also thought this sentiment was important to put in the poemhumans in the western culture
may resent death, but it is the only thing we all have in common and it is unhealthy to be angry at
or about someone simply because they are no longer alive. Most of the poem is made up of lines
from Lament and No Goodbyes because these poems affected me the mostboth of them
actually brought me to tears the first time I read them. In my opinion they express the most
severe feelings of loss, especially in saying, You were not ready and not reconciled, feeling / As
uncompleted as a child and Please let your final dream be a man not quite your size / Losing
the whole world but still here / Singing your secret names till the nights gone. These poems are
not merely mourning, they also contain a sense of anger and helplessness, which makes them
even more raw and genuine. As for Half Life, the poem was taking shape in the form of
mourning the loss of a romantic partner, and I thought that the lines, Exactly half the
phenomenal world is gone, / I was totally intact and didnt know would fit in perfectly with the
sense of loss the poem conveys.

The lines that I chose from Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas,
Contemplating Metempsychosis by Sandra M. Gilbert, and Dust on the Mantel by
Jacqueline Osherow are not featured in a particularly prominent way in the cento, and appear to
be included as odds and ends, but each of these lines stood out to me in different ways. Curse,
bless, me with your fierce tears, I pray is such a powerful contradiction, as though the narrator
is begging for just one last interaction with their loved one during their raging against the dying
of the light. Whether the exchange of words is positive or negative does not seem to matter, as
long as there is one final conversation. In Dust on the Mantel, the line Murmur something
unequivocally precious has been taken slightly out of context, but the meaning has not changed.
As it follows the line Curse, bless the request is simplifiedthe narrator is merely asking
for just one last significant statement to come out of the mouth of the other person, plain and
simple. In Contemplating Metempsychosis, the lines, There is nowhere you are not, /
Nowhere you are not not really capture the feeling of someone special, especially if they are
recently deceased, surrounding both the physical person and every aspect of the environment. I
have felt that way with some of my relatives, especially the ones I was very close to, sensing
their presence at times of happiness or distress. In these moments, there are no spaces which they
do not occupy, and yet there are no spaces where they are actually present. It is an eerie feeling,
to say the least, but it can be comforting, as well. It is particularly thought-provoking on the
grounds that the dead cannot literally be with the living, but just by different signs or energies,
the living can discern the intentions or temperaments of the dead.
Compiling several different lines into one amalgamation of a poem was slightly akin to
cutting and pasting letters from magazines to write an anonymous note, but after writing a cento
of my own I have more of an appreciation for this type of poem and the contribution it makes to

the genre, in general. It takes considerable skill and time and planning to write a poem, but
constructing a poem from the words of others presents a unique kind of challenge. Not only did
this provide me with the chance to practise new skills as a poet, but it also allowed me to bring
aspects of my favourite pieces from the anthology together into one new piece of writing.
Allowing these different lines, written by different authors, all with different perceptions of death
and dying, to coexist together on the same page is satisfying in a way. The nature of the cento
allows these verses to express a message that is poignant, genuine, and even a little painful, but
this is typical in literature that discusses death. The nature of the revelation experienced by the
narrator is different for everyone, and whether it is bitter or not does not take away from the fact
that it is one we will all eventually experience.

Works Cited
Thomas, Dylan. "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night." Ed. Sandra M. Gilbert. A Book of
Elegies: Inventions of Farewell. New York City: W.W. Norton and, 2001. 47. Print.
Ginsberg, Allen. from "Kaddish." Ed. Sandra M. Gilbert. A Book of Elegies: Inventions of
Farewell. New York City: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2001. 194-198. Print.
Gilbert, Sandra M. "November 26, 1992: Thanksgiving at the Sea Ranch, Contemplating
Metempsychosis." A Book of Elegies: Inventions of Farewell. New York City: W.W.
Norton and Company, Inc., 2001. 143-144. Print.
Gluck, Louise. "Terminal Resemblance." A Book of Elegies: Inventions of Farewell. New York
City: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2001. 65-66. Print.
Gunn, Thom. "Lament." A Book of Elegies: Inventions of Farewell. New York City: W.W.
Norton and Company, Inc., 2001. 53-56. Print.
Monette, Paul. "No Goodbyes." A Book of Elegies: Inventions of Farewell. New York City:
W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2001. 67-68. Print.
Monette, Paul. Half Life." A Book of Elegies: Inventions of Farewell. New York City: W.W.
Norton and Company, Inc., 2001. 257-258. Print.
Mew, Charlotte. "Beside the Bed." A Book of Elegies: Inventions of Farewell. New York City:
W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2001. 80. Print.
Osherow, Jacqueline. "Dust on the Mantel: Sonnet." A Book of Elegies: Inventions of Farewell.
New York City: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2001. 147. Print.