Step 1. Write word-centos of Kim Harvey,
Dustin Pickering, Mysti S. Milwee & Mike
Sonksen. (In non-shpiggidity-shpaggidity
speak, a word-cento is basically a rearrange-
ment of the words of a poem however you
see fit, but only using the words of the poet,
particularly the words in only one poem of
said saint.)

 

THE HAWK INSIDE ME

(a word-cento of Kim Harvey’s
“Light & Shadow” *)

A hawk inside me died again.

He was breathing broken moonlight
above the turpentine trees.
He wanted your body to paint him
with the language you drink.

I remember how he ate
crimson over the canyon.

He was after gold:
a hollow room of broken blue.

* Original poem by Kim Harvey
first published in The Comstock
Review (Fall/Winter 2019), won
the Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial
Award 2019. Reprinted in Iamb.

 

UNCOUTH AMBITION

(a word-cento of Dustin Pickering’s
“Hymn to Solitude: An Invocation,
Pt. I” *)

Shame silence free from fame;
foreign flight, I sing the game.
I sing muses late Poetry,
begging for fame & snobbery.
For fear of fragile fruit I shear
sleep of eternal honesty.
Dreaming virtue, entangled noise,
I return chance o’ercome with choice.
For now my youthful ecstasy adult’rous
grants my word at once.

* Original poem by Dustin Pickering
published in The Punch Magazine.
Oct. 31, 2020.

 

GLASS SURVIVOR

(a word-cento of Mysti S. Milwee’s
“Victorious Voice for Justice” *)

Glass survivor, shackled skin,
pain haunting a reflection of shards.

Your chains no longer burning fear
in my eyes of broken.
Your cigarettes no longer follow my skin.

Everywhere – naked.
Every voice – awake.

Glass survivor, your pain
lifting my soul awake
to see shadows of naked justice.

* Original poem by Mysti S. Milwee
published in Feminist Voices: An
Anthology of Poems on Rape and
Sexual Abuses (Verses from 47
Countries), Vol. 1. Aug. 23, 2020.

 

AROUND THE WORD

(a word-cento of Mike Sonksen’s
“The OraL Tradition” *)

Metaphysical history sung gnostics
of electric Innocence,
Nature Warriors of Hip Hop linguistics
Sanskrit Sestinas, Iliad mantras, Dada Dubois,
troubadours of alliteration singing epic soliloquies, sutras,
sharing fire with Harlem mystics, rhymers,
new semiotics windows.
Check emcees pounding lexical ballads before
crossing the bridge of smoke.
Vedic chants wandered timeless stars—
Legends reject legends!
Cultural, academic expressionists, objectivists
Press the word through transcontinental transcendentalists,
gathering fire with the Beats
of Lorca Wasteland villanelles—
tell the timeless texts!
Mythical Masters, Elizabethean griots—
broken confessionalists alone.
Projective Renaissance, the Source scribes
spoken San Francisco, Sandburg’s heavyweight cool
keeps Arts in the Duende Club
with Wordsworth movements across Prairie Buddhist
beginning
Black Futurists’ Renaissance
stream consciousness over the canyon &
press on concrete rhymers.
Nomadic factory experience of lines told timeless!
Surrealists with Hart Beat Hughes of a City
around the Word…

* Original poem by Mike Sonksen
published in The Nervous Breakdown.
Sept. 4, 2010.

 

Step 2. Breathe a meditative insert as spoken
word, while witnessing the groovy artifacts in
Valley Relics Museum (Van Nuys, California)
before Mystic Boxing Commission Festival of
Sound and Vision, dedicated to Jerry Kamstra
(1935-2019).

MEDITATIVE INSERT
Valley Relics Museum

I.
Static ammunition in the triggering bonga
of virage viral, knick-knack pure-rock 10.5
.5— I see boombox in a line—
with red-linen big boy up the wazoo I bite
in a Park Place, a mongoose of air ends up
cleaning bikes on top of bikes, racks of lamb
I race around the team
look at myself in a mirror of a silver pawn
a silver chess board that resembles
a static superstition lamshra mini mart:
the T-bone steak of Reason!—
I bicycled out association up your frozen yogurt
hamburger & rocket into Johnny B. Good,
rocket while I look but don’t touch
because I’m in Valley Relics Museum.

II.
Banners paint Tiffany’s with Mustang love
of nachos I dip Pallino’s & become a meat-
sausage downward spiral, all the way to Phil’s Diner,
with the angry orchards and A/W Root beer!
Welcome to the ‘70s, to the ‘60s, to the ‘40s,
my big brother. I play the electric triangle but
instead windmills roll with de Kooning & cows mooing
up the Sherman Shaman
as I pioneer the Pillsbury Doughboy
as I become a goose buffer/buster myth with neon sign
green
finding four-leaf clovers & men with hats stitched together
I dodge like a car, a disco Camaro

& become the recall of sixth-sense drug stores and
a late night… and a late night… and a late night…

rusted molly vibe, bowling for columns,
combine Norman’s with rarity &
guru guitar gitas
I am a shell that is superstitioned by gasoline
Let me light my inner resilience
on fire

III.
I am tuxedo tom into the motel of this
cracked out switch-axe, looking for Elvis with eyes
fans— chinatown me awake with boots to the top

I’m back in the saddle baby with lock-stock-and-
silver,
static recognition in the backfire of Man,
as I become the lama llama lake shrine of signs &
fine candies,
as we bat our eyes, as we charge the light brigade
trooping for a 6th con
donated to the rock stations
donated at the country club
where I cycle my soul into the gold cup dismal
…until I cycle myself in
with pedals of perfection
I am a classic airwave station
I am 1952
as I cycle back and forth
wearing my body
like a mongoose.

 

Step 3. Combine the meditative insert and word-
centos, while listening to The Psychadelic Sounds
of the 13th Floor Elevators (full album),
Easter Everywhere (full album)—also by the 13th Floor
Elevators—followed by ZZ Top’s “La Grange” as a
palette cleanser before Baby Grandmothers’
Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out (full album).

 

VALLEY RELICS MUSEUM (COMBO)

Metaphysical history sings gnostics
of Electric Innocence
Your chains no longer burning fear
in my eyes of broken
banners painting Tiffany’s with Mustang love,
with neon signs green
in Park Place,
everywhere naked, every voice awake
crossing the bridge of smoke
virage viral, knick-knack pure-rock 10.5
.5— I see boombox in a line—
Shame silence free from fear of fragile fruit I sheer
sleep of eternal honesty,
with red-linen big boy up the wazoo. I bite
a mongoose of air, lifting my soul awake.
Your cigarettes no longer follow my skin
cleaning bikes on top of bike racks of lamb-grants,
nachos I dip Pallino’s & become a meat-
sausage downward spiral,
all the way to pain Phil’s Diner,
with angry orchards and A/W Root beer!
I return to chance o’ercome with choice.
Welcome to the ‘70s, to the ‘60s, to the ‘40s,
my big brother. I play the electric triangle but
instead windmills roll with de Kooning & cows mooing
up the Sherman Shaman,
emcees pounding soliloquies,
as I pioneer the Pillsbury Doughboy
for now my youth buffer buster mythful
with ecstasy adult’rous.
I dodge disco Camaro race around the room
hollow broken blue
to see shadows of naked justice,
crimson over the canyon,
Glass Survivor, look at yourself in the mirror,
dreaming virtue, entangled noise of a silver pain pawns
haunt reflect on shards.

The hawk inside me died, & I AM BECOME DEATH
your Vedic recall for my Wordsworth Wasteland villanelles
across Prairie Buddhist bodypaint,
cool, sick sixth-sense for six-cents at the Duende Club drugstore
Aftersource scribes the word around the Word…
a late night… and a late night… and a late night…
a silver chessboard resembling
a static superstition lamshra mini mart:
I remember how he ate the gold T-bone steak of Reason!—
I bicycled out association
Sanskrit Sestinas, Iliad mantras, Dada
up your frozen yogurt
hamburger & rocket into Johnny B. Good troubadours
rocket new semiotics, sharing with Harlem mystics
fire static ammunition triggering bonga
breathing broken moonlight,
with the language you drink.
Look but don’t touch.
Legends reject legends!
Foreign flight, I sing the game.
Press on concrete rhymers!
Rhymers rusted molly vibe, bowling for columns,
cultural Surrealists with Hart Beat Hughes of a City
combine Norman’s with rarity &
guru guitar gitas
Nomadic factory experience of lines told timeless!
I am a shell that is superstitioned by gasoline
Light my inner resilience
on fire above the turpentine trees.
I sing the muses late Poetry,
begging for fame & snobbery.

I’m tuxedo torn through transcontinental transcendentalists’
word-wandering with academic expressionists, objectivists
gathering projective confessionalists’ fire of Lorca
looking lexical for Elvis with Elizabethean eyes, windows
into the motel of glass
cracked survivor switch-axe,
heavyweight Hip Hop linguistic fans—
chinatown me awake with boots to the tap
Nature Warriors, griots tell the timeless text!
I’m back in the saddle baby, broken alone
with lock-stock-and-spoken San Fran-
silver,
static recognition of Man’s Mythical Masters’ ballads before Beats
beginning Black Futurists’ Renaissance
stream consciousness over the canyon &
I become the lama llama lake shrine of signs &
fine candies, finding four-leaf clovers & men with hats stitched together
as we bat our eyes, as we charge the light brigade
trooping for a 6th con
donated to the rock stations
donated at the country club
where I cycle my soul into the gold cup dismal
…until I cycle myself in
with pedals of perfection
crimson over the canyon
I am a classic airwave station
I am 1952
as I cycle back and forth
wearing my body
like a mongoose
because I’m in Valley Relics Museum.

 

Right side displays the word-centos. On the left is the meditative insert. Writing shows the ordering and inserting the one into the other. Yellow highlighted lines are lines not used in final piece. Yellow highlighted bracketed x’s – i.e., [x] – indicate the lines were indeed used after typing up this image. (Note: some of the yellow highlighted lines might not have corresponding highlighted [x]’s where there should be some.) The color of writing shows to which word-cento the words correspond. Kim Harvey word-cento is blue, Dustin Pickering is red, Mysti S. Milwee lack and Mike Sonksen green. Black writing in brackets indicates rearranged lines or rephrased from the meditative insert part.

Joshua Corwin, a Los Angeles native, is a neurodiverse, Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and Spillwords Press Publication of the Month winner. His debut poetry collection Becoming Vulnerable (2020) details his experience with autism, addiction, sobriety and spirituality. He has lectured at UCLA, performed at the 2020 National Beat Poetry Festival, and his Beat poetry is to be anthologized alongside Ferlinghetti, Hirschman, Ford, Coleman and weiss late this year (Sparring Omnibus, Mystic Boxing Commission). He hosts the poetry podcast “Assiduous Dust” and teaches poetry to neurodiverse individuals and autistic addicts in recovery at The Miracle Project, an autism nonprofit. Corwin’s collaborative collection A Double Meaning, with David Dephy, is currently seeking publication. He also has forthcoming collaborative poetry projects with Ellyn Maybe including Ghosts Sing into the World’s Ear (Ghost Accordion series 1st Wave, Mystic Boxing Commission).