Category: Poetry

From girlswritenow.org contributed by Robin Church. Choose a photograph. Write a poem from the perspective of the character n it. Be sure to use details in the photo as images in the poem. Focus on creating a distinctive and and consistent voice.

Here’s an example from poet, Richard Blanco: Photo of a Man on Sunset Drive: 1914. (Full text of the poem here). Notice how Blanco describes a scene from a hundred years ago.  From there, he goes on to tell us how this scene has changed.  His poem is a time machine of sorts that carries us back and forth through time at the same location.  This is a great way to build a poem around a photograph, going well beyond description of the photo itself.

Another technique is offered by poet and teacher, Steve Kowit in his book, In the Palm of Your Hand. He suggests a poem in three parts:

1) Describe briefly what is in the photo, focusing on just a couple of details.
2) Animate the photo by suggesting movement or other sensory input.
3) Enter the picture and interact with the objects or people in the photograph.

Here’s a poem demonstrating Kowit’s technique from The Ekphrastic Review that was written by one of our PSM members.

Write a poem giving someone advice. Use the language of something else to do it. Example: I want to give you advice about your crappy relationship but instead I talk about methods to get a stubborn stain out of a carpet. It could be an extended metaphor. And fun/clever/don’t even think of rhyming.