If one picture is
worth a thousand words, can one picture inspire a thousand words?
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| Photo by Hank Kellner |
“I can't give you
the white picket fence, and if I did, you'd set it on fire.”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Bleeds
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Bleeds
Who would? Not me.
Something in me loves a white picket fence! Oh, I know the white picket fence is seen by
some as symbolic of the ideal American middle-class life—a family and children,
a comfortable house and peaceful living.
What’s not to love?
But for me, it’s something more. I cannot pass a white picket fence without getting a kind of quiet
thrill. It’s a personal enthusiasm, a
sort of excitement.
It all began when I was quite young—perhaps eight or nine
years old. Up the street from our house
there was a little cottage. In front, a
white picket fence that held back a profusion of colorful blooms. The daughter of the house was perhaps six
years older than I, and very beautiful—like a delicate flower fairy. I was enchanted. She treated me fondly, like
an adoring older sister. (My own did
not!)
As these things go, time passed, and of course we went our
separate paths. But for me, that white
picket fence that surrounded Laura’s yard became a symbol of enchantment, a
promise of wonderful things to come.
Years later, I discovered that my husband shared my fondness
for picket fences and the dreams they conjured. When he read the poem “Warning” by Jenny Joseph—the one which
starts, “When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple / With a red hat….”,
my husband said to me, “I want to grow old with you, so we can run our sticks
along a picket fence.” And so it was
that this picture of a white picket fence called to my poet’s muse.
Along a picket fence
We ran our sticks along a picket fence
I dreamt of growing old along with you
But fate surprised us both and changed the path
Along which both of us had gaily run.
Now that fence grows older dear than you
Since you were torn untimely from the world
And so I travel lonely down this path
That echoes faintly with your well-loved laugh
Three score of years have passed since we were wed
A score since I have traveled here alone
Who knows how many years I may have left
Before our paths again become as one
~
Elizabeth Guy
In my book Reflect & Write (Prufrock Press, 2013),
another writer’s inspiration produced an entirely different poem coupled with
the same picket fence photo. The poem
“picket fences” by Laurel Guido, a 17-year-old student contributor from Lake
Bluff, Illinois, uses the unexpected image of a picket fence to which she
compares her young love.
What do picket
fences mean to you?
Coming next week ~
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| Why him? |
Also, visit my co-author's blog at http://hank-englisheducation.blogspot.com
See his ten-part series on photo
prompts to inspire writing at http://www.creativity-portal.com/prompts/kellner/
Another Helpful
Source for Inspiration
For more photos and information not included in this blog,
please visit http://www.prufrock.com/Reflect-and-Write-P1752.aspx.
Reflect and Write contains more than 300 poems and photos; keywords;
quotations; either “Inspiration” or “Challenge” prompts; a “Themes to Explore”
section; a “Twelve Ways to Inspire Your Students” section; a special “Internet
Resources” section, and more. Includes CD with photos and poems from the book. Reflect
and Write: 300 Poems and Photos to Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner and
Elizabeth Guy (Prufrock Press, 2013), 153 pages, $24.95.
