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“An Opening”, A Cento* by Ethan Onley


Give up to fate, you don’t have to need me

Gonna end up a big ol pile of them bones

I gotta bomb in my temple that is gonna explode

Oh no, I know a dirty word

I am trampled under sole of another man’s shoe

Oh, sweet oblivion feels alright

Slow suicide’s no way to go

How the dog broke your brain

There’s no sex in your violence

I admit it, what's to say? I'll relive it, without pain

*Cento is a form of poetry using lines from other poems, songs, or other published sources. A collage, an act of synthesis. Ethan’s poem is made from the first lines of classic 90’s grunge songs.


Ethan Onley (class of 23) plans on welding after high school.

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