1344: Cento Between the Ending and the End by Cameron Awkward-Rich

Summary

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The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

Episode 1344: "Cento Between the Ending and the End" by Cameron Awkward-Rich

Host: Maggie Smith
Date: September 3, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, host Maggie Smith reflects on the beauty and power of poetry assembled from fragments—specifically through the poetic form known as the cento. By sharing personal anecdotes and introducing Cameron Awkward-Rich’s poem “Cento Between the Ending and the End,” Smith explores how collective voices, friendship, and cultivated community can be sources of hope and restoration, especially during times of fragmentation and hardship. The episode invites listeners to consider poetry as both a personal and communal act of making meaning, healing, and joy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Magic of Scraps and Metaphor

[01:04-02:33]

• Maggie Smith opens with a touching childhood memory: her son's playful misunderstanding of the word “previews,” calling them “scraps of other movies.”
• She uses this as a segue to the concept of artistic “scraps”—fragments that, though incomplete alone, can be stitched together to form something beautiful.
• “It's funny how metaphors are so baked into our language that it's completely reasonable for a small child to use a term for fabric or paper to describe something he didn't have the word for.” (Maggie Smith, 01:28)

The Cento as A Poetic Form and Practice

[02:33-03:25]

• An explanation of the cento: an Italian poetic form assembling lines from other poets’ works, likened to a fabric quilt or collage.
• Personal note: Smith finds writing a cento creatively liberating, especially when she feels uninspired.
• She reflects on the collaborative nature of the cento, suggesting that artistry doesn’t always require inventing something new but often involves thoughtfully curating and combining existing voices and insights.

Introduction to the Poem and Its Resonance

[03:25-03:56]

• Maggie introduces “Cento Between the Ending and the End” by Cameron Awkward-Rich—a poem built from lines by contemporary poets such as Justin Philip Reed, Ocean Vuong, Lucille Clifton, and others.
• The poem, though made from linguistic “scraps,” achieves a sense of wholeness, reflecting themes of community, survival, and joy.

“I admire this poem because, although it was made from scraps of language, it makes wholeness its business. To me, this poem is about the power of community and the necessity of friendship for our collective survival, collective freedom, and collective joy.” (Maggie Smith, 03:42)

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Featured Poem:

“Cento Between the Ending and the End” by Cameron Awkward-Rich

[03:57-05:02]

• Smith reads the work aloud, foregrounding its themes of survival, rebirth, reunion, and collective hope.
• The poem’s lines evoke a luminous, queer, and communal afterlife where friends are gathered and unharmed, time is full, and wild freedom is possible.

Notable Lines:

“Sometimes you don’t die when you’re supposed to. And now I have a choice. Repair a world or build a new one.”
“When I call out, all my friends are there. Everyone we love is still alive gathered at the lakeside like constellations my honeyed kin…”
“Bloom how you must, wild until we are free.”

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “A cento is a poem sewn together using the scraps of other poems. I love working on a cento when I’m stuck or uninspired. I don’t need to write anything new to be writing.”
  (Maggie Smith, 02:42)

• “This poem is a reminder of what we can do and be together. It’s a reminder of the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.”
  (Maggie Smith, 03:50)

• “Beautiful nameless planet oh friends, my friends bloom how you must, wild until we are free.”
  (Cameron Awkward-Rich, poem, 05:00)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:04-02:33: Childhood memory and the metaphor of “scraps”
• 02:33-03:25: Introduction to the cento form and its creative potential
• 03:25-03:56: Context and significance of today’s featured poetic cento
• 03:57-05:02: Reading of “Cento Between the Ending and the End” by Cameron Awkward-Rich

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Episode Tone & Takeaways

• The mood is intimate, gentle, and hopeful, urging listeners to find meaning and kinship in communal acts of creation, even from fragments or “scraps.”
• Poetry is framed not only as a form of personal expression but as a collective practice that models freedom, belonging, and the possibility of a more habitable world.

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Summary

This episode of The Slowdown offers a heartfelt meditation on the magic of creative assemblage—whether through language, memory, or community. By sharing both her own story and delivering a moving cento, Maggie Smith amplifies the message that, together, we can outlast endings, repair what’s broken, and imagine new beginnings.

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Transcript

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[Maggie Smith]

I'm Maggie Smith, and this is the Slowdown. When my children were small, we only went to the movie theater a few times a year. It was a rare treat. One of those times when my son must have been only four or so years old sticks in my mind. We were getting ready to leave the house, meaning I was probably reminding him for the umpteenth time to put his shoes on when he said, let's get there early. I want to see the scraps of other movies. That phrase stopped me in my tracks. The scraps of other movies. Previews. He meant previews. I still jokingly use this phrase with him, though now he's a middle schooler. It's funny how metaphors are so baked into our language that it's completely reasonable for a small child to use a term for fabric or paper to describe something he didn't have the word for. Across mediums for centuries, scraps have been useful, even beautiful. For example, there's the cento, an Italian form that is collaged together from the lines of other poems. A cento is a poem sewn together using the scraps of other poems. I love working on a sento when I'm stuck or uninspired. I don't need to write anything new to be writing. I can take a visit to my bookshelf or the library or the enormous treasure trove of poems on the Internet, finding lines that I put together to form a new whole, something I get to call my own. Today's poem is a sento composed from lines from poets Justin Philip Reid, Hu Minh Nguyen, Fatimah Asghar, Kava Akbar, Sam Sachs, Ari Banyas, C. Bain, Oliver Baez, Bendorf, Hanif Abdurraqib, Safia El Hilo, Danez Smith, Ocean Vuong, Franny Choi, Lucille Clifton, and Nate Marshall. And I admire this poem because, although it was made from scraps of language, it makes wholeness its business. To me, this poem is about the power of community and the necessity of friendship for our collective survival, collective freedom, and collective joy. It's about the ways we can make the world more habitable and more hospitable for one another in times that feel divisive and fragmented. This poem is a reminder of what we can do and be together. It's a reminder of the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Sento between the Ending and the End by Cameron Awkward Rich Sometimes you don't die when you're supposed to. And now I have a choice. Repair a world or build a new one. Inside my body a white door opens Into a place queerly brimming Gold light so velvet gold it is like the world hasn't happened When I call out, all my friends are there Everyone we love is still alive Gathered at the lakeside like constellations my honeyed kin Honeyed light beneath the sky a garden Blue stalks, white buds the moon's marble glow the fire distant and flickering the body whole, bright, winged, brimming with the hours of the day Beautiful nameless planet oh friends, my friends bloom how you must Wild until we are free. The Slowdown is a production of American Public Media in partnership with the Poetry Foundation. To get a poem delivered to you daily, go to slowdownshow.org and sign up for our newsletter and find us on Instagram at Slowdown show and [e-mail] hi, it's Maggie. Thanks for listening to the Slowdown. Whether you press play to find calm or vivid inspiration, we're glad you're here. As a public media podcast, we rely on listener support to share these moments of poetry. Please consider donating [e-mail] donate.