Writing Poetry -Working With Images


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.

Something Permanent : Cynthia Rylant : 9780152770907
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 conjure up new and imagined poetic possibilities.It provides both poetry and some essential wordplay. 


Recently I have been delving back into Collage poetry...


Occasionally, I use of my own illustrations to accompany poems in my notebook. Illustrating is not something I consider a strength, for that reason I must continue to be risk taker and go there from time to time. 


I  also like to use photographs as a background for poems.





Some further possibilities might include the following:
*illustrations from wordless picture books 
*the six room poem strategy to link with a picture. 
*cartoons strips could also provide stimulus for poetry.

I think by now you are getting the picture...
May you readily find inspiration in the images the world places before you. Snap!

*This post was originally published on my Poetry Pizzazz Page as part of Poetry Friday.

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