As yesterday, there is a poem (and today, also a song) at the end of the post.
Remember... Have fun!
In my house, I have photographs of relatives I never met, in fancy clothes from before I was born... I have photos of myself as a child... I have photos famous people have taken in famous places... what do you have?
I ask lots of questions in this prompt -- I suggest you write for a bit -- maybe 5 minutes (or as long as you want) about any of the questions that interest you.
Elementary writers:
Parents -- if you can, help your child find a photograph. Be warned, a tiny bit of curation here can go a long way. On the bottom shelf of my kids k-8 library I found one of the most graphic and moving books about the middle passage I have ever seen... photographs can be powerful -- even from the newspaper and magazines. Do you have an old album or shoebox of pictures they can rummage through on their own? Children's books will do too. Book covers.
Find a photograph that you like a lot.
What do you imagine about the person you are looking at?
What do you think they are looking at?
What do you imagine them doing the day the picture was taken?
What do you imagine them doing today?
What do you think about their clothes?
Ask them three questions.
Tell them three things.
Middle Writers:
Create a persona for the person -- it can be or can be not true to life.
What do you see about expression? Clothing? Setting?
Create a scene out of the day.
What is your person's biggest concern on that day?
Are there other people in the photo? Who are they? What are their biggest concerns? Is there no one there? Is that a concern?
What do you think about cameras? How do the people in your picture think about cameras. A camera can act as a barrier between two people -- it can also act as a connector. Do you have that experience? What is the difference between a selfie, a group selfie, a school photograph, a family photograph?
Write a story or a poem where the photograph becomes a conflict for the person you are writing about. How does that play out, and what do they do about it?
High school and beyond writers:
Write down as much as you can about the photograph. Notice as much as you can about what is there -- clothing, setting, expression...
What do you think is right outside the frame?
How did this photograph come to be?
Imagine the difference for this person in the day that the photograph was taken and the same day, when the photograph never happened. Why didn't it happen? Did that change everything?
Write a poem or a story about this.
AND OUR FACES, MY HEART, BRIEF AS PHOTOS
When I open my wallet
to show my papers
pay money
or check the time of a train
I look at your face.
The flower's pollen
is older than the mountains
Aravis is young
as mountains go.
The flower's ovules
will be seeding still
when Aravis then aged
is no more than a hill.
The flower in the heart's
wallet, the force
of what lives us a
outliving the mountain.
And our faces, my heart, brief as
photos.
-- JOHN BERGER
The Story was inspired by this poem and made a song!
A pen! What for? To see it dance!
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