poetry

A Picture’s Worth . . . How Many Words?

/ Gerry Wilson / Leave a comment

Something New at The Writerly Life: Photo Prompts

For years I kept a folder of photographs (yes, real ones, printed out or clipped from magazines and newspapers) and used them as writing prompts for my students. I would set the pictures up around the room and let the students browse until something “struck them” about a photo. Then they were to take it back to their desks and free-write. Those early drafts often led to striking memoirs, stories, or poems.

Dive into a Photo, Come Up with a Story 

What I’m proposing is the opposite of a photo challenge (which I love), where a particular word sparks the search for an image. Here, the image sparks the words.

Every other week, I’ll post a photo. You’ll supply the creativity!

Maybe the photograph will trigger a memory, prompt a story or a poem, or even a blog post! Take the situation and run with it. Write about what’s happening in the picture. Write what came before. Write what comes after. Take it anywhere you like . . .

Your reward, if you choose to accept the challenge, is the pleasure of writing something new!

Let me know how this works for you. You might even post the first 100 words or so—or a few lines of a poem—in a comment. Or share a link to a longer piece. Whatever you do, have fun. Happy writing!

Here’s the first photo:

“Jumping Into Swimming Pool” by Ian Kahn
Free image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sunday Wordle: June 17

/ Gerry Wilson / Leave a comment

Here are the words from Wordle 61 at The Sunday Whirl: blend, latch, chest, current, draft, string, crack, spare, temper, refrain, racket, trace, strike.

These words seemed to want to be a poem. Here’s a draft:

Muddle

Outside, the air’s a rare blend of jasmine

and wood smoke from the grill. My chest hurts

from hunching over the computer too long,

this draft a muddle of temper, a racket of voices.

 

I need something spare: a bare room, silence,

a crack in the face of time. There’s too much noise

in here; it drags me down its racing current.

I wait for the clock to strike the ending.

 

Where’s the latch and string when I need it,

a simple exit where not a trace of sense

remains: not jasmine, not smoke, not even this

refrain of words, scrabbling to be heard.

cane chair in sunlight

Follow-up to the Sunday Wordle, June 10

/ Gerry Wilson / Leave a comment

All right. I couldn’t stand it.

I had to go in and make just a few edits to “All Fall Down,” a little story based on today’s Wordle at The Sunday Whirl. Nothing substantial. Got rid of some repetition, some wordiness. If it’s going to flash, it needs to be slick. It needs to move right along.

Wordle 60, June 10

So read it again, if you like, and see if you can spot the edits. Or not.

If it turns into a story, I’ll let you know.

While you’re at it, before you end your surfing for today, you might check out some other Wordle responses by my poet-friends: Veronica Roth, Margo Roby, De Jackson, and  Jo Ann Jordan. There are many others over at The Sunday Whirl, of course. Go to “Mr. Linky.”

Thanks to everyone who stopped by today!