IN MY UNKNOWING -a cento by Kathleen Gunton

IN MY UNKNOWING
-Carolyn Kizer: Cento*

In the fragile cup of silence
My heart quivers with apprehension
Now is the instant when wheat is harvested
Truth rolls back the boulder from your tomb
Suddenly, color invades the void
The heaven-light of memory blends
Into harmony, silence and renewal
Autumn in the heart, as the links are broken
And, in the path of the Beloved
Miraculous water—God’s emissary
In a moment of light forever
O God, I ripen toward you in my unknowing
Which ends always with the note of eternal beginning
I can hear the angels breathing
And rejoice at the inner voice, so lofty and pure
Losing myself in joy
And everything, forever, everything is changed

*Each line is drawn from a different poem in Carolyn
Kizer’s collection, Cool, Calm, & Collected (Poems 1960-2000)

Kathleen Gunton is a poet/photgrapher who believes one art
feeds another. Often her words and images appear in the same
publication. Over 45 of her cento poems have appeared in literary and
faith-based publications such as Anomaly, Commonweal, Cura,
First Things, Rhino, North Dakota Review and Studio One.
She lives in Southern California.