These were written as a part of the recent writing workshop I facilitated. Shimmer image is my own.
Mirror, inspired by own photographic image, Shimmer
every strike of blade
calls for the spade
an open hole
for the whole
cloaked in red
not yet dead
battle soon
and new moon
she holds the ground
on what she's found
they come for serenade
but she's a hand grenade
The Vale of Rest
inspired by the Millais painting of the same name
Tree of knowledge
Timeless pledge
Cut it down
Timber to ground
Make a box
Style the locks
A plot is found
Box in the ground
Inside a body
With no more worry
That mortal shell
Drained life well
Candle time
Dim shine
All that is left
Now entirely bereft
Tree stump
Weeds clump
Nature renew
Everlasting view
Ohh I'm so glad you posted these. The imagery is very pregnant - you write great poetry, though I know you said you don't do it often. Was it harder for you writing based on your own photography as opposed to someone else's art? Were you somehow biased? (since presumably the photo already was based on and had some associations and meanings to you)
I tried to write as though a blank slate. I wasn't looking at either image for the first time, however, so it is impossible to remove my implicit meaning and understandings of either of them from each other.
Did you surprise yourself? When you looked at the poem, did you go "yep, that's pretty much what I've always thought about this image", or did something new maybe come out?
Probably new things, and in the back of my head, an offhand response to an objectifying comment I'd overhead of another image of the individual depicted.
The hand grenade line was me trying to embody the rage of the individual depicted in response to that statement.
I hate that I get that sort of response to my work when I do not intend to sexualise or objectify the people who pose for my images.
While any image can be gratifying to anyone, it is not my intent to generate that sort of content.
Beautifying and flattering, yes, objectifying, no. But this is the first time Im saying this out loud (and forever on hive, because no edits!) - I know that no matter what, I cannot deny or defy my "gendered" biology, and feel like no matter what or how I say such things, my genetic predisposition to having an x and y chromosome provides me with an irrevocable "male gaze".
Yes, but that's implicit in the act of creation itself, and not necessarily a bad thing. Obviously, it's a different thing being a sexist pig who uses "art" to expose lewd, objectifying or in some other way gauche ideas. But you looking at it from a male perspective is no less blamable, intrinsically, than I looking at it from a female perspective. I will always write as a woman and create men from my female (and no doubt also faulty) gaze.
All that being said, I'm sorry for the comment. That couldn't have been pleasant. It's never easy when someone assumes you were trying to "say" something you weren't with your art, and even less when they attribute to you something like this.
You have no place apologising for the remarks of another, and if in my just woken state I have forgotten the context; I must say what I often say to lots of women (and also men)- strangers, friends, colleagues. If something you did or said was with intention, do not ever apologise.
I accept my masculinity as a balance issue, but I think relative to my outward appearance, but for the longest time I've had far more female friends. When the typical "boys" get together, I find myself squamish and want to involve the balance of genders. We have fun as a corpus of society, not by excluding anyone.
Thanks for reminding me. Everyone tells me, but I still find myself apologizing when I shouldn't. Bad habit, I know :)
I reckon male gatherings can bring value to a man's life (from the men I've known, obviously), but also most boys' gatherings aren't like that, really. But yes, generally, the balance of the genders is optimal.
Love the rhyme scheme going on especially the lines:
cloaked in red
not yet dead
Not yet dead is the greatest thing you can tell anyone when they ask how you're going or feeling :)
yeah it sums it all up☺️