Earthseed: The Book of Life, a Cento

Mahalia Smith

Earthseed: the Book of Life, a Cento

by Mahaila Smith

After Octavia E. Butler 

The gifts of the earth are brought and prepared, set on the table.1
Birches dance and they 2 watch white stars spin
dizzy as drunks and yearn 3 at me
so deep in the dust and dark, 4
drinking a coffee that takes an eternity. 5

You can find me on the moon,6
particles nearly turn to antimatter,7
here I have a star’s eye view8,

in this kingdom by the sea,9
in hunger of the world.10

By darkness this twinkle we made in a corner of emptiness,11
with twelve locks on the door.12
Bones flexed like tendons,
the spine like a seahorse,
the heart far.13

I should learn to look at an empty sky,14

I’ve spent my life on nothing.15

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MAHAILA SMITH (any pronouns) is a young femme writer, living and working on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg in Ottawa, Ontario. They are one of the co-editors for The Sprawl Mag. They like learning theory and writing speculative poetry. Their debut chapbook, Claw Machine, was published by Anstruther Press in 2020. Their second chapbook, Water-Kin, was published by Metatron Press in 2024. Their novelette in verse, Seed Beetle, is forthcoming with Stelliform Press. You can find more of their work on their website: mahailasmith.ca.

Earthseed: the Book of life, a Cento can be found in Augur Magazine Issue 7.2.