October 04, 2035

The Cento series has gone on for a very long time. 
 
The cento series was because I love to write poetry and share other artists work. So with centos I could create artwork I like and feature other artists in the same. Field. It was a joy being on this creative journey. From May 28th 2023 to September 7th 2025 is circa two and a half years. Fifty two weeks in a year so, 52+52+(52/2)  = 104+ 26=130 weeks. At two poems each week that is 260 poems. Not bad:)
 
Centos in overblog are from May 28th 2023 to November 17th 2024- sadly the results are not temporally aligned, unlike AALBC. 
https://rmnewsletter.over-blog.com/search/Cento/
Cento List - enjoy the poetry from November 23rd 2024 to September 27th 2025 
https://aalbc.com/tc/search/?q=cento&quick=1&type=calendar_event&nodes=5&updated_after=any&sortby=newest
 
Enjoy the 2023 Centos in ebook form
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/richard-murray-centos-2023
 
AND HERE IS A GOING AWAY PRESENT, the last of the Cento's I had listed. Enjoy
Maybe thin walls protect unwanted energies as a rock. with ease. https://www.deviantart.com/mysticalpoet/art/Permeable-1042307846 You don’t want to be too good at what you are doing. Since it is probably just a discount brand anyway. Especially for those working low-salary jobs. Especially when one is constantly being bombarded Some people can handle it, others cannot https://www.deviantart.com/princeoffire/art/Rat-Race-1042162559 And laughing in the Winter's icy clutch on me, Whispering of distant wonders https://www.deviantart.com/midn1ghtink/art/Anywhere-With-You-NaPo24-15-1042367171 life is a butterfly wing; on my leg https://www.deviantart.com/lucienrising/art/Bruised-1042271257 it is easier to tell myself that I just been too quiet when the thing I want the most is right in front of me; cannot touch me https://www.deviantart.com/starrystarrysky7267/art/all-that-I-have-1042258562 I'm a puddle; but... I'm able to breathe... For quite a long time I'm so scared - Of a total meltdown... Into that deep, dark water... I think I'm finally On the shore, and... I've found myself https://www.deviantart.com/faythe1900/art/Tiny-White-Flower-103-1040755252 I see the clouds overhead Where man would soon build I know what's coming next To cleanse my body and soul Why dread what nature gives https://www.deviantart.com/shouron/art/Stormy-Memories-1040951737 since our last argument... There's talk of me talking with you. https://www.deviantart.com/mysticalpoet/art/Two-Weeks-1042693009 accept defeat before anything could start but your rose perfume will one day become heavy promises that hang in the air. I think for me https://www.deviantart.com/starrystarrysky7267/art/clairvoyant-1042811951 It feels so nice against the skin and Showing off a dapper look and Killing it with style. https://www.deviantart.com/princeoffire/art/Silk-Shirt-Acrostic-1042785245 Single body melts and reforms, And give me my true name. I can sense the world around you, Of the stars living between us. https://www.deviantart.com/midn1ghtink/art/Shadow-Dancing-NaPo24-18-1043402404 It is becoming a nice time of year. Like back during pandemic times. Time to enjoy a nice walk outside https://www.deviantart.com/princeoffire/art/Sunny-Day-1043783427 words will come someday, a beautiful and artifice -- never beauty; so beautiful I have no bricks to lay https://www.deviantart.com/maggotsx/art/Creator-1043492968 in her tiny care it wasn’t you (tiny, innocent, https://www.deviantart.com/ink-singer/art/thief-1040279547 Lord knows I could solve stars. to remind me fate as planned... https://www.deviantart.com/mysticalpoet/art/Revisiting-Music-1043567941 what has been the seeds over men: many paths https://www.deviantart.com/lucienrising/art/Perpetual-1043507694 Maybe this is just part of the tale, But you wanted sleep. While I'm wrapped up in thorns. https://www.deviantart.com/midn1ghtink/art/Sweet-Dreams-NaPo24-19-1043621741 but as i stare at my reflection so i know that even within the darkest hour with no lies, no mimicry how do we find our clarity we search our whole lives for a promise we are never told https://www.deviantart.com/rtnightmare/art/PFP-Open-Theme-My-Truth-1043993797 je leur enlèverais leur masque de miel si j'étais de retour à la maison, pendant que les moissonneuses faucheraient me soufflent les fleurs écrasées sur le trottoir que la campagne et son silence pesant passer sous des arcs-en-ciel sans trésors I would take off their honey mask if I was back home, while the harvesters mow the flowers crushed on the sidewalk blow at me that the countryside and its heavy silence pass under rainbows without treasures https://www.deviantart.com/whiteplumfragrance/art/Le-champ-de-tournesols-875941852 I agree i can be quite a bore you crumble at the littlest, slightest touch fighting to stay happy but the world says no so why do i still keep going? https://www.deviantart.com/dazzlinraven/art/I-am-broken-1042194680 With nary a ship or a soul Our bodies had agreed upon. With every slow, labored beat. https://www.deviantart.com/midn1ghtink/art/December-NaPo24-20-1044466476 well, child, would you believe as you work hard that one is out of order and my job https://www.deviantart.com/kirihearts/art/bones-napo-5-1044549373 She says, to God I suppose, but not our bodies. We are supposed to be here for praying my head, a brief nod of gratitude, before https://www.deviantart.com/maggotsx/art/Calvary-1045141850 Breath and body Have nowhere to go Too many holes https://www.deviantart.com/sicariusalatum/art/Old-Clothes-1044579391 my poetic response Title: The Griot replies to Troubadour PrinceofFire Your song is part, while not too long For Nimue, said, at a kong Where the griot, I sing of, sat Waiting while in a mudcloth brat She spoke of a former knight, now king Earn'd from four and one, to live fae-bling White hair'd he dream'd, of one thing to be To end the false legend, after he He mourn'd after he was whisk'd away The innocents burn'd or metal-slay All the task was for a love felt far Not from evil or deceptive tar Yet, all he could do was shed tears Year after year, from faulty fears He earn'd one way into faelan' None left in years or none human Till the queen's sister saw a griot A wise traveler and not a sot She spoke to him of the faeking's fright And his request before he lost sight The griot laugh'd and accept the quest A worthy addition to his jest The Sky-king's court he will join one day To join his loving hene and play And, the griot left the sweet fae shores To tell a foreign people true lores And add to his own king-quest some tales To sing a journey through all the vales from hddeviant/richard murray https://www.deviantart.com/princeoffire/art/The-Knight-and-the-Faerie-Princess-979999142
 
 
If you want more poetry from me, consider. 

Epub link
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/poetry-or-more-1
Epub series it is in has more than poetry
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/series/richard-murray-short-story-collection
 

Audiobook link
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/the-last-flail
Audiobook series is mostly poetry but not all
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/series/richard-murray-tip-jar-audios

If you enjoy my craft and would like to support me with $1 consider using my tipjar
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/tier/Tip-Jar-to-HDdeviant-902770076

Event details

Zero's Unfolding Adventure  
LITERATURE
Zero's Unfolding Adventure
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/Zero-s-Unfolding-Adventure-1242313656

ART
Amate of Yabu, Mui, and Zero
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/Amate-of-Yabu-Mui-and-Zero-1243104279
Zero sleeping after adventures with Yabu Nda
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/Zero-sleeping-after-adventures-with-Yabu-Nda-1243106596
 
Audio version, text is coming at 3pm today on schedule in deviantart 
https://www.tumblr.com/richardmurrayhumblr/796480634913767424/written-by-richard?source=share
Join CRliterature in Deviantart for his challenge 
https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/537-where-are-they-now-zero-a-nightmare-before-christmas/
 
AUDIO POST
https://www.tumblr.com/richardmurrayhumblr/796480634913767424/written-by-richard
 
IMAGES





 
FORUM POST
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11937-zeros-unfolding-adventure- audioliteratureillustration/
 
URL
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/Zero-s-Unfolding-Adventure-1242313656

CONTENT
Zero's Unfolding Adventure
Zero's Unfolding Adventure
from Richard Murray / @HDdeviant / RichardMurrayHumblr
Coloring pages and audio are after main text


Zero is having fun in the outskirts of Halloween town about Sally side Jack Skellington; he enjoys orchestrating the glow worms with his nose while Sally snuggly side Jack looks up to the bright moon on a blanket on the grass, quaintly singing dulcetones diharmonically. It is a happy evening. Suddenly, a piece of dark brown paper tumble in the wind from the forest. The paper dance slowly across the face of Zero; it has a sweet smell, like fig; he follows the wake of the paper, tumbling smoothly. Suddenly, a mighty gust propels the paper back to the boundaries of the forest; Zero follow it, curious. Sally notice and pleasantly alarm: "Be Careful Zero"


"Don't veer far Zero! remember the last time": Jack chime in a relaxed tone. Sally side Jack goes back to looking at the moon while Zero look with wonder, smiling, to the piece of paper entering the forest; it immerses into the shadow fences made by trees plus moonlight. Zero look back, to contented Sally plus Jack, and go into the forest, hoping to catch the path of the floating paper. Finally, Zero has the paper in sight; after hurdling branches or managing changes of direction, he is floating immediately behind the ebbing paper, and snap, success. While hearing his name faintly in the air, Zero lead to turn home, seeing a set of other trees like the gateways he knew made him ponder and stay.


One had seven candles at the base, three red, one black, three green, matching the order of three striped colors making a door. One had black or gold painted walnuts in a wooden bowl around a bright white trumpet, and a door having the design of two happy dancing figures holding hands, a negro male in a simple grass garment from waist to knees with his face painted white side a preto female in a seamless short sleeve to the thighs blue patchwork dress with a white silk like shawl plus a white headwrap playing a shekere made from a cabaca with beads of an ever changing full spectrum of prismatic colors. And more gateways, but the one attracted to the nose of Zero, holding the paper in his mouth, most had a fruit bearing fig bush at the base; above it a rectangular door on the tree made of the paper the piece is made of. The boundaries of the door are cut outs of munecos, ancient spirit beings to lands bordering west of the Caribbean Sea, while the center is a painted scene of a natural environment more beautiful than Christian Eden, centered with a bright, buff colored, fig tree. But the door is missing a piece of itself. Zero place the piece and the door brightens. The door open like a rolling scroll and the reveal surprise Zero; he only sees a bright buff road to a distant place while all else is darkness. Zero enter and the door close, scroll like; he follows the bright road till it end, where he sees a bright shiny fig tree, and a similarly bright humanoid figure next to it. The figure is crying while squatting, arms around thighs. Zero bark happily. The figure looks up, speak in a dialect of Otomi: "hello dog"


And the figure, dressed in ancient garb of lands bordering the west of the Caribbean Sea, pet Zero, after the dog comfort, and say: "All the other tona are gone, I feel so alone"


Zero look to the other end of the bright road, and gesture to go there. The tona respond: "But I can not leave the Tree Blessed by Tezcatlipoca. I am it's Tona, its spirit representative. I don't want to leave it"


Suddenly, the tona look to the Blessed Tree and say: " It is telling me to go... it will be alright"


The tona is uncertain, and look down, and look up to the tree as if being told something pleasant and smile, and turn to Zero and kneel: "Ok dog, escort me out"


And the tona look to the Blessed Tree: "I will return, don't doubt it"


And Zero and the tona depart. The bright road shortening every step the tona make away, till the tona and Zero are at the doorway. The tona look back and see a lone bright dot in the distance. Zero bark confidently.


"Ok Dog, let's go"


Zero and the tona exit the scrolling door.


"Look at all these trees, are they gateways dog"


Zero bark in confirmation, and go to a gateway tree.


"Zero": suddenly is heard in the distance, and again louder or closer, by a voice discernably from Jack Skellington. The tona look to Zero and ask: "is that your name?"


"I think I see him Jack": say Sally off to the distance, who approach with Jack behind her. Sally side Jack, he approaches angrily ready to reprimand Zero, notice the tona and approach the stranger positively.


"Oh, hello, my name is Jack Skellington, and this is Sally, my wife, welcome to Halloween Town"
The tona smile and answer in English: "I am Yabu Nda from Ilhuitl Valley"


"Greetings': say Sally.


"Zero was going to escort me to other lands, but if he had to go home?"


Jack kneel to Zero: "I apologize for being angry, I should show more faith in you my old friend": and Zero hover about Jack happily. Jack rise and face Yabu: "Yabu, you can't find a better guide or companion to new worlds, enjoy your journey, you two"


Sally, waving, side Jack depart calmly, arm in arm and Zero guide Yabu to a world neither knew. Where they are on a float, a vehicle with a stage on it, aside dancing loa, or spirits, playing instruments, like the shekere and other fun. They left and entered another gateway. The duo saw many great dancing dragons and were given lucky money as they watched and made fireworks go, and other fun. They left and entered another gateway. Where people always asked Habari Gani? The pair heard many great stories of ancestors and were given seven gifts. And Yabu adding on Karamu Imani, a feast of faith, his own tamshi, statement, where he presented seven tales of his ancestors, like Tezcatlipoca, and more fun. They left and entered numerous gateways, each to a new land where they had fun, till no more gateway trees were unexplored in this gathering. Yabu was uplifted and having so much fun didn't worry about being alone with the Blessed Tree. Yabu says to Zero at the gateway tree to Ilhuitl Valley: "You can go home, I will be alright, promise to visit me some time ok"
Zero bark but circle about the door eager to get in. Yabu laughs:" ok Zero, ok, the tree will love to hear us"


Yabu sees the light with the scrolling door cracked open and it startle him. He open the door fully and Yabu put on the biggest smile: "Mui Dehe!"


Mui Dehe leap to embrace Yabu and Yabu Nda embrace the smiling, overjoyed, Mui; she is a bright blue like the blue stream that on one side has the buff bright road, while on the other side other natural joys of Ilhuitl Valley far as they eye can see. And more tona come to greet Yabu, and he realize, speaking in an Otomi dialect: "I am Yabu Nda! tona to the Blessed Tree, I was so happy I forgot to leave, to replenish the light"


Mui smile: "We were always here, I stayed as close as I could to that road, I know you wouldn't forget"


And Yabu introduced Mui Dehe and all the other tona to his new friend Zero, and Zero had a happy time enjoying the tona tell him about the nature each represent and their various abilities or rules, and Zero help Yabu tell the other tona about the new places the pair visited. Eventually, Zero had nothing left to do but return home and Yabu gave him a gift from the Blessed Tree, an amate scroll, a scroll from the bark of the tree. And, the gift hand lovingly on the wall in the room of Zero as I speak.

COLORED PAGE WITH COLORING PAGES
if you want me to draw a coloring page, give me a message, I do commissions, and check the description section for notes on the story


AUDIO VERSION
https://64.media.tumblr.com/7631171e1cb6bd8114b501b564dc1655/2b37ca2d89d6420c-43/159888997a6c32798677277606ab1b4827186b9e.mp3


POST FACE
TITLE: Zero's Unboring Thing
Lock, Shock, and Barrel are sitting down on Outer Shutters Rue, bored, like any children who have seen everywhere in their land and want to see something new. The problem is Halloween Town , like any festival land, is eternally one season. Bored with the same tricks, tired of the same treats, they sit twiddling. With every second they edge closer to harming, not playing, anyone.
Suddenly, Zero arrive and they pay him no mind. But Zero carries a container and a wand. After sitting the container and wand down, he open the bottle and dabble the wand in, generating a thin film of oil in the loop of the wand. Zero spin and three children are in shock.
What sparkles in the light? What giggles in the sky? What is in that container? What magic does that wand have?
What is this?!
Zero never told them, but he learned about this, and many other things he will use to sate their boredom in his first adventure with Yabu Nda, an unfolding adventure.


AUDIO VERSION
https://64.media.tumblr.com/ad0c547ba9e74f1a425b867256fbfaca/2b37ca2d89d6420c-86/2f375e359e9d316868073cc5ecea6c28e98e0c69.mp3
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nightmarebeforechristmaswherearetheynowwatncrliteraturezerorichardmurrayhddeviantrichardmurrayhumblryabundamuidehe
Basis for the short story in
Where Are They Now: Zero - A Nightmare Before~
from @HDdeviant in @CRLiterature
Where Are They Now :Zero from A Nightmare Before Christmas COMING OCTOBER 8th! in the CRLiterature posts
WATN: Zero - A Nightmare Before Christmas
Oct 8, 2025
Where Are They Now : Zero - A Nightmare Before
CRLiterature Challenges
https://www.deviantart.com/crliterature/posts
Combined Audio Post
https://www.tumblr.com/richardmurrayhumblr/796480634913767424/written-by-richard?source=share
If you want to help me out as an artist, I have a tip jar for a dollar a month, that is 0.03 cent a day.
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/tier/Tip-Jar-to-HDdeviant-902770076
My Literary Gallery
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/gallery/81311721/my-tales-or-poetry


NOTES:
Word Usage
quaint- known well
dulcet -sweet
tones - sounds
dulcetones - sweet sounds
diharmonic - di is two, harmonic is agreement/concord of sound, concord is with heart as in with each other's heart, a rhythm; diharmonic is two sounds rhythmically together
fig - plant, tree or shrub, that has a fruit, it's bark can be used for making paper, Amate.
shekere- musical instrument, musical instrument with many names. a gourd surrounded by beads, can be played various ways: various strikes, various shakes.
cabaca- fruit that is dug out to make gourds, which is an element of a shekere
spectrum- a range, commonly referring to colors
prism - device that emits full spectrum of visible light when white light is applied.
munecos- ancient spirit beings to lands bordering west of the Caribbean Sea [ Otomi dialect]
Otomi- indigenous people of Mexico, kept pre-European invasion production of Amate alive to modernity.
Tezcatlipoca- the creator of people, the one who comprehends people, the smoking mirror
Tona- spirit representative of a natural element: each mountain/river/lake/tree/similar natural body [ Otomi dialect]
Ilhuitl- festival, or day [ Nahuatl]
Float- a vehicle with a stage on it
Loa- spirits
Habari Gani? - what's the news? [Swahili]
Karamu Imani - a feast of faith
tamshi- statement
Yabu Nda- Far Seed
Mui Dehe- Heart Water
Amate- paper made from the bark of a tree, maintained by the Otomi people through the Spanish European domination of the lands of modern day Latin America.
oldest known amate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Codex_of_Mexico
more info
https://www.mesoweb.com/articles/Coe_etal/Fourth_Codex.pdf
https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/aztec-life/aztec-hairstyles
modern art new
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AmatePaperCutOutMAPDF.JPG
only 20 codex's survive to modernity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_codices
otomi codex - Codex Huamantla
https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/spanish-invasion/expert-opinions-two
Otomi papermaking
https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/writing/aztec-papermaking
clothing
https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/ask-us/aztec-earrings/kids
Xochiquetzal
https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/gods/goddess-of-the-month-xochiquetzal

Event details