poetry potluck

Image | February 21, 2015April 3, 2015 | andy townend

During the last week, I have been taking part in the WordPress Writing 201: Poetry course.

Daily Post editor, Ben Huberman, has prompted us each day with a new prompt, form and a device.

This weekend, we were granted a break from the creative process and invited to share a poem that we love.

I choose to share words from a poet to whose writing I was introduced whilst living and working in Belgrade.

I have often used quotes from his work coupled with my photos on my blogs belgradestreets and belgianstreets.

These words, from Rainer Maria Rilke, once shared with me at a time when I felt empty and without hope, are simple yet compelling.

“Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final”

The image I chose to use today comes from a shoot in a famous cemetery that I shared recently on belgianstreets, the words seem to fit both the expression in the eyes of this dead wartime warrior, and the feelings of those he left behind.

fog

Image | February 20, 2015February 20, 2015 | andy townend

                                            memories of ascending a shattered staircase
                                      wanting and hoping and wondering
                            remembering how, in the clouds and through the fog, he first saw her face
                        would it ever be the same, after all the wandering?

(a poem about fog in the form of an elegy with a metaphorical angle for day four of Writing 201)

(and for lucile’s the clinic – photo rehab)

*shot with nikon d700, 50mm f1.4 nikkor lens, edited in aperture 3, analog ex pro 2, wet plate filter applied, mistily ambiguous*

animal

Image | February 19, 2015February 19, 2015 | andy townend

                                              In the blink
		                          Of an eye, he thought
                                        To cry. Oh       how he wanted to
                        Drink. Shuffling forward,   his   claws dragging along
                             The floor.  Wretched          and old, he remembered being
			              Told that it        would be better one
					Day. So he blinked again
						One eye.

(a story featuring an animal in the form of concrete poetry with a little enjambment for day four of Writing 201)

(and for lucile’s the clinic – photo rehab)

*shot with nikon d700, 50mm f1.4 nikkor lens, edited in aperture 3, analog ex pro 2, double exposure filter applied, and a turtle*

trust

Image | February 18, 2015February 18, 2015 | andy townend

on trust not in lust
let go, allow it to flow
on with life, not with strife
many times before, he swore
often, on the day, gave way
until, he became still, not ill
can it be, that here, there is no fear?

(a story of trust in the form of an acrostic with some internal rhyme for day three of Writing 201)

(and for lucile’s the clinic – photo rehab)

*shot with nikon d700, 50mm f1.4 nikkor lens, edited in aperture 3, silver efex pro2 with filter 024 full contrast and structure applied, laughter, swings and icy chains involved*

milk and alcohol

Image | February 17, 2015February 17, 2015 | andy townend

“i decided eventually
this ain’t doing a thing for me”

– milk and alcohol, dr feelgood

The boy wanted to wander with wonder along the way
Oh boy did he choose the wrong day
They advised him to avoid alcohol
Didn’t mention the doll
So later he longed for a lay

(a journey in the form of an alliterative limerick for day two of Writing 201)

(and for lucile’s the clinic – photo rehab)

(and for justine’s tea party #6)

*shot with nikon d700, 50mm f1.4 nikkor lens, edited in aperture 3, two images combined with layers in photoshop cc, analog efex pro2, double exposure filter applied, no animals were harmed in the production of this post*

journey

Image | February 17, 2015February 17, 2015 | andy townend

He joined a jeopardous journey
Not gleeful about going on a gurney
They boxed his body and bones
With more than mournful moans
Imagine if they were too early

(a journey in the form of an alliterative limerick for day two of Writing 201)

(and for lucile’s the clinic – photo rehab)

*shot with nikon d700, 16-35mm f4 nikkor lens, edited in aperture 3, analog efex pro2, wet plate filter number 9, not gleeful about being underground*

photo first appeared in my post (the) walking (with the) dead on (one of) my (other) blogs belgianstreets