Pictures & Paintings to inspire writing - a Monet-inspired memoir

Any picture can inspire a story

 

I have long been a lover of Monet’s art.  I cannot see his paintings without my mind wandering down lanes of discovery.  Sometimes they lead me to research the specific painting, sometimes they provoke questions about Monet himself.  But almost always they inspire me to write about my own responses to them.  For me, Monet’s paintings are always lyrical, and seem to lend themselves to poetry. 

Consider the painting below. The Magpie was painted in the winter of 1868-1869 while Monet and his family were residing on the coast of Normandy in Etretat.  I think of Monet alone, out braving the snowy winter cold, capturing the light and shadow on his canvas, rapt in a fever of creativity.  I can nearly feel the crisp edge of frosted air that bites his fingers.  And my mind drifts back to memories of my own.

Monet painting - The Magpie

 

Reflections on a Winter Painting

I saw a winter painting and I smiled.

Then once again my brother lived—

tall and strong, he pulled the sled

when I was just a little child.

           

Trees black laced against                                                                                    

an orange smear of sunset,                                                                  

the evening star a diamond in the dusk.

Below, the crunch of snow beneath the runners,

toes numb in buckled boots,

frozen misted breath, and mittens caked with ice,

riding like a small princess across a frozen tundra.

Home at last!

Stomping, laughing, pulling off our coats,

breathing in the kitchen’s fragrant warmth,

fingers tingling underneath the tap.

Winter memories of my brother.

Rest in peace my childhood knight,

and angels guard your soul.

Now the rising pearl of moon

casts its ghostly pale

upon my withered lawn.

Frost lies everywhere—

like fairy dust turned cold.

                         ~Elizabeth Guy

“Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour.”  - John Boswell

So, my thanks to Claude Monet for a sentimental journey and a bittersweet memory that has me smiling through some tears—perhaps more precious for all of that.
 

Do you have pictures that inspire your memories?

Coming next week...                                         

Men don't understand women!

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/

 And Don’t Miss…

             English teacher Mara Dukats and writer-photographer Cynthia Staples’ poems “white on white” and “The Absence of Color.” They’re in Part Four of Hank Kellner’s  twelve-part series THE POWER OF PHOTOS TO INSPIRE WRITING at the Creativity Portal  website http://gazette.teachers.net/gazette/wordpress/hank-kellner/using-poems-and-photos-to-inspire-writing-part-4/,  as well as Anna J. Small’s writing assignment in "Viewing and Writing about Photos from Around the World."

            Also, read more about Reflect and Write in the SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL http://www.slj.com/2013/03/curriculum-connections/meeting-the-ccss-through-poetry-professional-shelf/

 

                A 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.

A Photo, a Poem ~ and a happy chair!

If one picture is worth a thousand words,

can one picture inspire a thousand words?

Oh, easily!  In fact, I think a picture could inspire a thousand words more readily than a question would.  Pictures by their very nature stimulate the imagination.  They provoke a response in any language.  They provide an instant connection.  They pop!

When I’m searching for inspiration for a poem, I often find it in photographs.  In fact when I’m not searching for inspiration, but am trying instead to sort my boxes of family photos which stretch back for generations, so many writing ideas begin swirling into my head I could never put them all down on paper.  My own photos have volumes to tell.  It’s exhausting.

Sometimes it’s simpler to focus on someone else’s photos and pick one that “speaks” to me—like this one from Hank Kellner’s collection.  I came upon it unexpectedly there among so many other street scenes.  As if by magic then, the photo just spoke a poem right onto the page.

Imagine walking down a city street, people passing by without eye contact, everyone intent upon their own business.  One could feel almost invisible on a busy city street.  And then you come across something as whimsical and charming as this chair.  It smiles at you as if it were a friend.  How could I possibly resist it?  Why would I want to?

"A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin: what else does a man need to be happy?"            ~Albert Einstein

A Happy Chair 

Behold, a happy chair!

Were I to rest upon it

Surely warmth would fill me.

Surely all my cares

Would disappear

Dissolve into the smile

That seeped right through me.

I could be a little child

Again

If only for little while

And then,

Restored, renewed, refreshed

I could continue on.

            ~Elizabeth Guy

When I’m feeling down, or tired, or worried – or just plain old – I think about that happy chair.  And the smile does indeed seep right through me. 

Do you have a picture that always brings a smile to your face?

Coming next week...                                   

“The Magpie” by Monet inspires a poem

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/

  

And Don’t Miss…

             English teacher Mara Dukats and writer-photographer Cynthia Staples’ poems “white on white” and “The Absence of Color.” They’re in Part Four of Hank Kellner’s  twelve-part series THE POWER OF PHOTOS TO INSPIRE WRITING at the Creativity Portal  website http://gazette.teachers.net/gazette/wordpress/hank-kellner/using-poems-and-photos-to-inspire-writing-part-4/,  as well as Anna J. Small’s writing assignment in "Viewing and Writing about Photos from Around the World"

            

           Read more about Reflect and Write in the SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL http://www.slj.com/2013/03/curriculum-connections/meeting-the-ccss-through-poetry-professional-shelf/

                        A 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.

A Photo of a Boy ~ a poem called Loneliness

The human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than it processes text 

 

Goodness, how do they measure something like that?

Still, it does seem obvious that it is far easier to "read" a picture than it is to read the cryptic black marks and  squiggly lines that constitute text.  Show a picture of a smiling face to an infant and the infant often will respond with a smile of its own, but a picture of a frowning or angry face is likely to elicit tears.  It will take a few years and a lot of teaching for that same child to be able to read text.

Furthermore, pictures lend themselves to a wide range of possible interpretations and responses. That's why I love using them for my own creative writing.  It's like an immersion in inspiration.

Below, I present one of Hank Kellner’s photos of a young boy sitting on a ledge, seemingly reflecting on something. What could he be thinking?  Almost anything, really.  He seems relaxed – perhaps he’s daydreaming, or trying to solve a problem.  Or perhaps he’s simply lonely.  We all know what that feels like. 

Here is my response to the photo - the "text" produced by my imaginings about what this picture might portray.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

     ~The young man sat alone outside the cabin high in the mountains—his family's mountaintop retreat—the surrounding woods so still, his ears seemed deafened by the silence.  A suffocating loneliness engulfed him.  The weight of his father's death sat heavily on his chest—a solid mass of sorrow.  It had been six months then.  Six months of grieving isolation.  Walled off from the world around him even as he walked through public places, no one knowing, no one realizing, no one seeing the raw and gaping hole where his heart used to be, he was truly alone.

      There, in the deafening silence of that remote mountaintop, he examined the nature of his loneliness as it felt at that moment.  And he sought its deeper meaning.

 

loneliness

                                      

loneliness is loud—                                                                                 

a white noise roar                                                                                               

a tinny taste that’s swallowed                                                                                      

like a solid lump of air

it turns the green soul brown and dry

with edges sere and crumbled

it stretches thin and bare

its taut threads tug

yet—

it seems to sit so loose

a prison with an open door

through which one cannot pass

and emptiness fills one's every space—                           

to eat it and yet live

and even laugh

is one's greatest test of faith.

              ~Elizabeth Guy

"So lonely 'twas that God himself / Scarce seemed there to be."
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

      
     He composed the poem for himself.  And as he wrote, birdsong lilted in from somewhere. Somewhere there among the green-leafed trees, a small bird sang out its joy.  It settled on him like a promise of healing, and a testament of love.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Have you seen photos that capture a mood about which you could write?

 Coming next week~                             

A happy chair!

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/

And Don’t Miss…

            English teacher Mara Dukats and writer-photographer Cynthia Staples’ poems “white on white” and “The Absence of Color.” They’re in Part Four of Hank Kellner’s  twelve-part series THE POWER OF PHOTOS TO INSPIRE WRITING at the Creativity Portal  website http://gazette.teachers.net/gazette/wordpress/hank-kellner/using-poems-and-photos-to-inspire-writing-part-4/,  as well as Anna J. Small’s writing assignment in "Viewing and Writing about Photos from Around the World"

            Also, read more about Reflect and Write in the SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL http://www.slj.com/2013/03/curriculum-connections/meeting-the-ccss-through-poetry-professional-shelf/

  

                            A 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.

 

Why Him? In photos, poetry and prose

Every photo tells a story...

...and here's one of mine.

 

More and more in my travels here and abroad, I see young couples entangled in a romantic embrace, lip-locked like barnacles to the hull of a ship.  It’s sometimes quite bemusing.  Often I wonder, “What does she see in him?”

My co-author, Hank Kellner, who frequently travels with me, loves to do street photography and has amassed albums of his work.  I enjoy leafing through those images and choosing one or another to inspire a poem or a story.

Take for instance this couple, caught by Hank Kellner’s lens, exchanging a kiss along one of the river walks that edge the shores of New York City.  The following photo and poem combination appears in our book, Reflect & Write (Prufrock Press, 2013).  And, for anyone not familiar with the name Zac Efron, feel free to substitute the name of any man whose mere physical countenance makes women sigh with longing and get all starry-eyed and tingle-toed.

“Anyone who’s a kisser I’m always interested in.”  - Cher

No Zac Efron

He’s no Zac Efron

I’m sure you’d agree,

But he’s kind of cute I think.

With a slow easy smile

That’s part of his style

And a little “come here” wink.

His tattoos cover much that’s not seen

But at least there’s no ring in his nose.

‘Though his brain’s not too keen,

If you know what I mean,

And he favors the oddest of clothes,

Yet, he’s the one I chose.

I don’t understand it myself.

I guess the answer is this—

‘Though he belches and scratches and snores,                                                  

Often sucks his teeth with a hiss,

When he takes me in his arms

I simply cannot resist,

As he lowers his lips to mine—

Oh my!  He can certainly kiss!

                        ~Elizabeth Guy

Ah yes, Spring is in the air, the pheromones flying everywhere!  Even old codgers are not immune. 

I remember several years ago when a widowed friend became romantically involved with a gentleman, and their relationship turned serious.  Her son asked her, “Why him, Mom?”  She told me afterwards in confidence, “I really couldn’t explain it at the time.  I mean, you can’t tell your son something like, ‘Well, when he kisses me I melt like an ice cream pop in a steam room!’”

Do you have any photos that inspire you to write?

Coming next week~                   

What is this boy thinking?

 

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/

And Don’t Miss…

            English teacher Mara Dukats and writer-photographer Cynthia Staples’ poems “white on white” and “The Absence of Color.” They’re in Part Four of Hank Kellner’s  twelve-part series THE POWER OF PHOTOS TO INSPIRE WRITING at the Creativity Portal  website http://gazette.teachers.net/gazette/wordpress/hank-kellner/using-poems-and-photos-to-inspire-writing-part-4/,  as well as Anna J. Small’s writing assignment in "Viewing and Writing about Photos from Around the World"

            Also, read more about Reflect and Write in the SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL http://www.slj.com/2013/03/curriculum-connections/meeting-the-ccss-through-poetry-professional-shelf/

                          A 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.