Poetry and Photography

[mconnealy]

Beneath an overhang,

A record of a supernova –

The swallows don't care.

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

There's an old man,
lookin' out the window
He's watching me
while I watch him
Then we both grin

I'm what he was
He's what I'll be
These things are obvious
To him, to me
We both can see

I laughed to the heavens
He coughed and wheezed
He beckoned me in
His wet eyes did plead
But I just fled, that's the coward that I am

There's an old man
lookin' in a mirror
watching me flee
Knowing it's us all along
Sadly playing our cliché song

 

[mconnealy]

Low doorways expose

The neck of the enemy

At Chetro Ketl.

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

Let's have a poem for every occasion
A poem that's one size fits all
A poem that rhymes with all our emotions
Like a hula girl who's riding a wild surf wave
We all become surfin' surf babes
A poem that make us feel,
The ocean’s sea-sick motions
Like laying on the beach in Waikiki
Covered with coconut oil
this ain't no silly sally notion

A poem that shoots into outer space
Nothing short of healing the human race
Poetry that runs as fast as we can read
We need
Poetry that deals with pain and more pain
To deny these feelings
Is hard to explain, like the rain, it
Never stops, it never starts, it
Never says never, it’s relentless, then it's gone

Words that flow, words that fly
Something that will fill the void
When the unbelievable people in our lives die
And, when a newly born kitten mews
Spread your wings
Read the news when you need the blues
Eat an apple, eat the core
But for goodness sake
Stop keeping score - stop
Fighting a war

Well, that's my poem to end all poems
To join us all
To make us think - before we sink
Teach yourself to love your fear
Death only comes once, twice maybe
Make it all worthwhile
And then with a sense of style,
Smile, it's gonna be a long day



All the best.
Mike

 

[mconnealy]

Please, please don't let mine

be the last post in this thread

That's too much to bear!

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

I write my words of love,
to her
For everyone to see
With a sharp stick dragged through the,
beach sand
Unspoken feelings born in me

I trace the moonlight's shadows,
with wet feet
The sand feels good between,
my toes
The waves pound a roaring rhythmic beat
Why am I the only one who knows

Still I'm a sadly happy fellow
Though to her,
I remain unknown
The pounding ocean sounds in my ears
I hear laughing I feel tears
Whilst the waves wash away my poem

bar stool poet


All the best,
Mike

 

[Joao]

Wrapped boats by João Avelar, no Flickr

A short poem from Guillermo Veloso

Winter boats are
shrink-wrapped ghosts
haunting the docks as
they await the sea

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

I don’t go to church
No reason why I should
They got nothing for me
That I understood

Angry white people
Got lots to say
Want to tell me how to live my life
Most every day

Yet I’ll be livin’ life my way
Ran away from the crazy
As far as I could get away
As far as I could get away

Looking forward to the weekend
That’s when the other people ‘round me
Grab a bottle of happy and see things
Like they used to be yesterday

Cheers!

Mike

 

[airfrogusmc]

I'm going to repost this.

Heres some pieces of a book I put together some years back. Not always poems but images and words. Helped me through a very difficult time in my life. Not hallmark moments LoL...

 

[airfrogusmc]

 

[airfrogusmc]

 

[lawrence]

Your images and verse work beautifully together. As far as the images go, I love the way you have used a narrow DoF for emphasis. As far as the verse goes, well it goes perfectly with the images and IMHO getting a bit of Neil Young in there is never an issue!

 

[Dogman]

Lines from songs or the melody of musical compositions often flow through my head when I see something that moves me. Airfrogusmc, I heard a line from an Ian Tyson song: "Alcohol in the bloodstream is gonna have to do...'til I forget about you."


.....................................

 

[peterm1]

An old poem, but one I always think of when I see certain images.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.

Silver sea, Jimbaran Bay, Bali by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

 

[airfrogusmc]

Your images and verse work beautifully together. As far as the images go, I love the way you have used a narrow DoF for emphasis. As far as the verse goes, well it goes perfectly with the images and IMHO getting a bit of Neil Young in there is never an issue!

Thanks for the comments. These are just some pages from a personal book I did that helped get me through a dark period in my life. In the late 90s and early 2000's I started going out ever day making photographs as just a visual exercise but I didn't see the visual relationship to what I was going through until much later while looking through all the contact sheets. Things that were relating visually to what i was feeling and going through were showing up in my work. But I didn't see how ti was mirroring my life right away. It turned out to be great therapy.

 

[airfrogusmc]

Lines from songs or the melody of musical compositions often flow through my head when I see something that moves me. Airfrogusmc, I heard a line from an Ian Tyson song: "Alcohol in the bloodstream is gonna have to do...'til I forget about you."

I didn't form the relationships the words from songs and/or poems until later. But yeah I sometimes have songs and things running through the brain when making photographs.

 

[underlord]

Everything Is Going To Be All Right by Philip McAllister, on Flickr

Duke of York, Commercial Court, Belfast

How should I not be glad to contemplate
the clouds clearing beyond the dormer window
and a high tide reflected on the ceiling?
There will be dying, there will be dying,
but there is no need to go into that.
The lines flow from the hand unbidden
and the hidden source is the watchful heart.
The sun rises in spite of everything
and the far cities are beautiful and bright.
I lie here in a riot of sunlight
watching the day break and the clouds flying.
Everything is going to be all right.

Derek Mahon 1941-2020

 

[oldhaven]

Reflections on the removal of "The Scourged Back" photo from our National Monuments





Woke

In the midst of it all I am suddenly awake, and in my confusion I am left behind.
I have suddenly remembered what I am, and the parting of the veil has caused me to stumble and fall.
I am a volunteer, a warrior, a maker on the bloody edge of creation.
Some few of us are able to remember while the great work goes on, but I have not learned this yet, and cannot spare the energy.
I have fallen back among the others, those who only watch, those who will never know pain and death, who will never know life.
I remember my comrades and the battle we have fought through long lives, and know that they will need me....
Enough! Ahead I see the path and the abyss that is at once the beginning and the end, and my empty place in the lightning and shadows.
I am missed, and before the battle cry has left my throat, the red mists close about me once again.