Subscribe by RSSImage Making with Poems and Photographs
Posted by Dennis Reed, Jr. on October 1, 2009
On September 30th, the Rooftop Poetry Club featured Image Making with Poems and Photographs, a workshop led by teaching artist Karen Lee Lewis. Exploring the connections between photography and poetry, Karen led the group through a series of writing exercises which inspired participants to create poems from photographic images. Over 25 poets participated in the workshop; if you were in attendance, please feel free to post your poem in the comment box below. Click here for more information on upcoming Rooftop Poetry events.
Lisa Forrest said
Home from the Field
But,
you
were
gone
so long
Karen Lee Lewis said
Lisa, this little poem is anything but small.
I love the expanse of it, the tenderness and the
mystery it holds, the words falling like raindrops
onto the ground.
Lisa said
Thank you Karen! You really helped to inspire this… “imag-ination”!
Theresa Wyatt said
Naumkeg Gardens
Give me the beauty
of your pure white birches
vaulting skyward in silence
without restraint,
my jealousy grows untrimmed
like these grasses
within your leafy grace
and solitude
oh, if I could but be
a gardener here
in search of daytime slumber
do hedge me in then,
close and tight
Lisa Forrest said
Beautiful Theresa!!
Karen Lee Lewis said
Thanks for posting this Theresa, it is lovely.
I especially like the line “oh, if I could but be”
and also that fitting end of shrubbery.
Theresa Wyatt said
Karen, thank you so much for your well thought out and professional workshop methodology. I carried a great deal away with me. I am still thinking about it. Perhaps you will offer a Part 2?
Karen Lee Lewis said
A bit of kismet this morning from something I am reading…
“What is the Dharma-Body of the Buddha?”…
The question is asked in a Zen monastery by an earnest and bewildered novice…
The master answers,
“The hedge at the bottom of the garden.”
“And the man who realizes this truth, ” the novice dubiously inquires,
“what, may I ask, is he?” …
“A golden-haired lion.”
Theresa Wyatt said
Karen, beautiful thought here…zen…monastery. The gardens at Naumkeag, just discovered that I misspelled it are a very spiritual place. They do have a Chinese Garden there among so many others.
Karen Lee Lewis said
Theresa, thank you for suggesting a Part 2 for the workshop! I know Lisa’s schedule is packed,
but maybe I could offer another session. I’ll think about it some more and let you know.
Theresa Wyatt said
Karen, I would be interested in any future workshops you might offer.
Thank you.
Karen Lee Lewis said
Theresa, you are so kind! I will be co-teaching two professional development workshops for teachers, for UB’s Anderson Gallery. An architect will lead the participants in a 3-D model making experience, and I will supplement with lesson plans designed to link architectural concepts with poetry/prose writing. The workshops will be on November 11 and 18 from 6-9. The sessions will be the same so you’d only need to sign up for one. There will be a nominal fee for materials. I will post more information about registration soon. It’d be great if you could join us!
Theresa Wyatt said
I am so struck by the focus of these workshops, so interesting. I will look for further post re: registration, Karen. Thank you!
Sherry Byrnes said
let me know about that, too, please.
who is the architect. i LOVE the Anderson Gallery.
RD Pohl said
Check out “Between Season Insomnia,” another fine poem by Theresa Wyatt on this coming Sunday’s Buffalo News Poetry Page. She will be reading next Tuesday (Oct. 6th) evening at 7:30 p.m. at Hallalls Cinema as part of Earth’s Daughters Gray Hair Series.
Lisa said
Thanks for the word Bob– and congratulations to Theresa.
Sherry Byrnes said
Photos from my great grandmother,
Louesa Adeline Asenath Johnson Miller,
to me
How many hours–and irons–were required
to create
(”A-HEM!”)
starched “bloom” shoulders massed
in plaid beneath
a fine tied-off-in-a-bow’s delicate yet
speaking-out-loud
sidenote at her neck?
Implication
of tiny cinched waist yielding upward
in perfect pleats and gathers
to outstretched breadth exaggerated
into a mercurial countenance crowned
with upswept waves
into
colossal suspended
…hair.
By her own hand,
her pride so evident.
“Not many could fix their hair as big as I did–”
In countenance, woman
–imposing, serious–
emerges with finesse from mischievous
girlhood.
Perfectly framed
by a brim designed to reveal
or conceal
yet announce in wave
of two-cupped-hands-big
rich silk petaled poms across and over
the dark field of _such_ a hat.
In 1912–
an age where imagism was nascently beginning to define
clarity, precision, exactitude, compact
as the standard–
my great grandmother sat
in glorious, forceful, impeccable
STYLE to impress
with flourish
and
her remembered comment:
“HOT DIGGITY!”
sherry l. byrnes
2009
Karen Lee Lewis said
Sherry, I really appreciate how this poem moves!
It is brimming with life and energy.
Thank you so much for posting it. I am enjoying seeing
the work on the page. What about a title?
Sherry Byrnes said
I tend to struggle with titles…they are so finite and disruptive to the fluid stream of consciousness where I seem to dwell most of the time…_if_ a title emerges, it tends to be later…suggestions, anyone?
Sherry Byrnes said
maybe, “A Century’s Lens” ???
Theresa Wyatt said
Sherry, I have enormous difficulty with titles too. My background is in Art and I have the same problem there, easier to deal with in art than in poetry I believe. How about “Implications?” A very rich piece, more than one poem for sure.
Theresa Wyatt said
Just read again – how about “From Louesa to Me,” or “Louesa,” or “Mercurial Countenance?”
Sherry Byrnes said
how about “Lens for Louesa Asenath”?
my _grandmother_ was Louesa May; my _great, great_ grandmother was Louesa Ellen. i need a distinction!
Theresa Wyatt said
Sherry, I see, good one!
Theresa Wyatt said
Sherry, still trying to figure out the “reply” boxes. I see what you mean about title – good one!
Sherry Byrnes said
i’m still working out the “reply” thing, too! maybe “Lens _on_ Louesa Asenath”? i sort of like the alliterative…and the reference to looking…into, through, back…
Theresa Wyatt said
Another thought for title – how about “A Century through a Lens”
Lisa Forrest said
I really like the idea of using her name…what if you just called it “Louesa Ellen”? Such an interesting name…
Sherry Byrnes said
She’s the second Louesa…Asenath (uh see’nath)
Sherry Byrnes said
That’s Louesa Adeline Asenath…heh-heh!
Lisa Forrest said
Ha ha…this string is so funny to follow. Who’s on first?
Lisa Forrest said
That would be wonderful Karen! Maybe next semester?