Writing Challenge: Reuse, recycle, and upcycle your journal entries

Here's what to do when your journal overfloweth but your well of inspiration runs dry

They say there’s nothing new under the sun. Sometimes that’s what it feels like when I sit down to write and have the feeling that anything I’m tempted to write has already been written.

That’s why I love the poetic tradition of recycling what others have written. These poetic forms do just that. There are:

• Found Poems

• Erasure Poems

  and

• Centos

Just to name a few.

What each of these poetic forms has in common is that you start with one or more texts that are not your own—and you move or delete words and lines, to create something that is uniquely yours.

It feels a little like stealing, but there’s a rich tradition extending from biblical times to the present moment of re-mixing the words of other writers, giving credit, and then taking the bows for the finished product.

Your Writing Challenge

For today’s Writing Challenge, I’m offering a slightly different take on the forms listed above: Rather than look outside for inspiration, look within, to the writer you know best for the source material!

Photo by Rishabh Dharmani on Unsplash

Yes, that writer is YOU.

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Your writing challenge

A cento is a poem or prose piece composed entirely of quotations from other works.

The word cento comes from ancient Greek, meaning to plant slips (of trees). That little snippet of etymology alone feels like a whiff of poetry to me! Another origin for the word cento comes from patchwork, as in patchworking various bits of other people’s writing to make something new.

Photo by Andy Vult on Unsplash

Here’s a cento that I love, that was composed completely of book titles. The lines are also arranged in alphabetical order, which makes it even more amazing. And, it has the word dream in the title—and so it is even dreamier still.

Cento: The Poet Dreams of … by Ross White begins like this:

Altitude. Amplitude. Angels with clipped wings living among us.

Bestiaries. Blooms, terrible blooms. Books stacked for miles, waiting to be read.

and then the poem continues all the way to Z …

Your turn

Create your own cento. But rather than scavenge words and lines from other authors, patchwork your poem from lines scavenged from various dreams, or from various entries in your journal.

When you are done, share what you’ve written. (This part is for paid subscribers only. Scroll back up for details on the special deal I’m offering — and for the Pay-What-You-Can option for those who need it.)