I want you to create a cento.

I want you to create a cento that is ten lines. All of the lines must be end-stopped; make sure they are aligned on the left hand side of the page. Do not center them. A cento is a poem that is essentially a collage of sorts. You will want to find ten quotations from TV shows and/or movies and/or song lyrics and/or poems and/or some other awesome, tantalizing text. And then find a way to arrange them that is aesthetically satisfying and surprising yet somehow connected implicitly or explicitly. The lines can be as short or as long as you want; they must vary. Do not turn the collection of lines into a love poem.

There must be a line from dialogue from a 1950s TV show; one from a Tony award winning musical in the 1960s; one from a short story you think is poorly written and has appeared in any Norton Anthology; one from a horror film; one should be a line of a poem that appeared in a poetry collection published during the 1970s.

The remaining lines of the remaining ten are from individual sources you choose.

No abstractions or platitudes. If you do not know what a platitude is, look it up.

After you do that, I’d like you to give the poem a title–something interesting. I’ve been bored with a lot of the titles–they usually consist of abstractions. Surprise me

. Each line should contain one idiosyncratic or surprising proper noun. (ie. Mom and Dad is not idiosyncratic.)

Highlight the noun. If you do not, I will automatically deduct one point for each time you overlook that direction.

List all of the sources at the bottom of the page. Provide links. You should keep proof that your sources exist . I will spot check some of them.

Things to assist you:

https://poets.org/glossary/cento

http://www.versedaily.org/2012/wolfcento.shtml– Example of cento

https://youngwritersproject.org/node/21210– Example of cento

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/books/arts/poem…– Example on cento

Please follow all directions and include all bolded points. Big tip at the end if done good. Thanks! Highlight the noun as well as the instructions say.