Old Snaps And Poetry

Last week I shared a Gogyohka Poem titled 'Old Snaps.' It sparked reader interest and prompted me to further explore the notion of old photographs and the poetry connection they often evoke.

I recalled a poem from one of my poetry heroes, Michael Rosen. The poem is titled, 'Going Through The Old Photos' and is contained in Michael's famous anthology of narrative verse, 'Quick Let's Get Out of Here.' I actually own two copies of this book, just in case I misplace one.

Here is Michael Rosen reading his poem.

U.K songwriter, activist and poet, Billy Bragg recently published a song- 'Ten Mysterious Photos That Can't Be Explained.' The song prompted me to look through my photo collection and dig out some of my mysterious photos. It wasn't too hard.

Here are a few of my mysterious photos that can't be explained. They most certainly provoke speculation and lend themselves to the assignment of suitable words...

This photograph of a group of unknown beach goers prompted some speculation in my notebook.

Finally, this poem from my anthology, 'What The Poemster Found' which was prompted by an afternoon spent rummaging through a large box of old family photographs. It had me swirling in memories.

Never the Whole Family

Rummaging through a box of old photographs

Images from the growing years

My days of greyscale memories

Snapped with stories attached

Images from the growing years

My sister, me and a kangaroo

Mum and Dad at Blackburn Lake

My days of greyscale memories

Seated on my father’s lap

Mum holding my sister, the baby

Snapped with stories attached

Sub groups of a larger family

Never the complete set.

Alan j Wright

From: 'What The Poemster Found.'

It is Poetry Friday and this week our host is Buffy Silverman.

Be sure to check out Buffy's special post.

'My favourite picture of you

Is the one where you're staring

Straight into the lens

It's just a Polaroid shot

Someone took on the spot

No beginning, no end.'

Guy Clark

My Favourite Piture of You

Poetry Inspired by Images and Objects

There are many ways pictures and photographs can be conscripted to support the writing of poetry. Allow me to share a few ideas with you: Old photographs are a great source of inspiration. Cynthia Rylant explored this idea with great success in her book 'Something Permanent' where she employed the Depression era photographs of Walker Evans to add a new voice to the starkness to the lives of people experienced under extreme circumstances. I have used this strategy to spark many individual poems. In ' I Bet There's No Broccoli On The Moon,' I used a photo I had taken in 2004 while living in New York to inspire a poem. The poem was based on a story related by a friend who grew up in New York. I regularly combined poetry and pictures in my writer's notebook, drawing on inspiration from the photograph and my personal memories. We can also utilize existing cartoons and illustrations to create ekphrastic poems. I frequently use the illustrations of Jim Pavlidis to co...

Opposite Poems

O pp o s ite P oem s In his book, ' How To Write Poetry,' Paul Janeczko presents the idea of opposite poems. Paul suggests they could also be referred to as antonym poems. This is wordplay and it's fun to try. Here are some examples Paul provides to help us see very clearly how these short little poems work. I think the opposite of chair Is sitting down with nothing there What is the opposite of kind? A goat that butts you from behind Paul Janeczko You will notice the poems are written in rhyming couplets. They can be extended so long as you remember to write in couplets. Paul shows us how this is done. What is the opposite of new? Stale gum that's hard to chew A hot-dog roll as hard as rock Or a soiled and smelly forgotten sock You might notice that some of Paul's opposite Poems begin with a question. The remainder of the poem answer the question posed. Opposite poems are a challenge, but it is a challenge worth trying. N...

Powerful Poetry, 'Refugees' by Brian Bilston

This week, Poetry Friday is hosted by Janice Scully @ Salt City Verse where Janice shares some original words and offers us a taste of Thomas Carlyle to ponder. I encourage you to join a host of poets from all around the globe and visit Janice's page... Almost two years to the day, I wrote a post featuring the poem 'Refugees' by Brian Bilston. The poem was included in Brian's first book of poetry, 'You Took The Last Bus Home.' A very powerful Reverso poem and technically brilliant. A Reverso poem can be read from top to bottom or bottom to top. It will often express opposite opinions depending on which way you read it. Such poems really make us think. A Reverso poem is like a picture turned upside down, a frowning face upended to reveal a smiling one. The poem read in reverse, contradicts itself with an opposing message. In 'Refugee' Brian Bilston focuses on a societal issue that tends to polarize feelings and the opposing views are clearly in eviden...

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