LIBRARY BLOG
The Poetry Nook
Celebrating National Photography Month with Poetry
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and during National Photography Month, we are going to try to write a few of those. Photography, whether black and white or full color, canid or portrait, can be used to spark inspriration in poets. Whenever I find myself in a writing slump, fingers, along with my brain, feeling like they are stuck in mud, I find the work of artists in other media a great kick start.
Photography, I feel, is the visual counterpart to poetry. Just like poetry is tiny stories, captured moments in text, pictures are literal snapshots of time, slices of story. Below, I’ve selected four beautiful images to serve as your starting point for new work. Take a moment to really explore all the corners of each one. Open your senses, and imagine what it would smell, sound, feel like inside. If none of these images draw you in, find a photography book that appeals to you or do an image search online.
.jpg "Rosie")
Now that you’ve spent time with these four photos (or if you’ve searched out your own), let’s get to writing. Try out one or all of the following writing prompts to create your own stories from these images.
- Thoughts of longing from the point of view of the person in the photograph.
- Why the photographer hates the subject of the image.
- A love letter to lunch the subject just ate.
- The story of the path that the subject did not take.
Recommended Books
– Naomi Hurtienne Magola, Youth Services Librarian