by Dana Guthrie Martin
I found this photo in an album on my friend Doug Shaver’s Facebook profile. I went back to the image over and over because I love everything about it — the sepia tones, the cemetery setting, the way Doug and his friend Andy’s faces are blurred.
Andy describes the photo aptly in a comment to Doug: “Odd photo, has a kind of other worldy feel, I look like I’m buried in the ground … either that or I’m rising out like the devil.”
I kept thinking that this image would make a great writing prompt, so I asked Doug if I could share it here, and he said yes. I hope you all like it, too, and that you can find your way into the image and see where it takes you.
You might want to write very literally about two men in a cemetery and what they might be talking about in that setting. You might want to write a poem that draws on the image in a less literal way, evoking the overall mood of the photo. You could even talk about identities and how they blur — and where it leaves us when what we rely on so strongly isn’t as distinct as we thought it was. These are just a few suggestions.
Feel free to leave comments on this post discussing approaches to the prompt, swapping ideas and whatnot. But please wait until next Thursday’s Get Your Poem On post to leave the links to your poems. We want everyone to have some time to think about the piece, and we want all the links to end up in one place for easy navigation by other participants.
Cemetery in Malvern by Doug Shaver
(Note: If you include Doug’s photo, Cemetery in Malvern, in your post along with your poem, make sure you credit him.)
I think I’ll have to print this out and let it stare at me for a few days. There’s so much ghostliness to it, and I think having it on the wall will suck me in quite nicely.
Thanks Dana – great visual prompt.
This moves me. Looking forward to jumping into this one. So many directions and turns could be taken with this. Great image.
It’s really beautiful and creepy — the lighting is strange. Great image.
Dave, hanging it up is a good idea. That way you can spend a lot of time with it and let it seep into your mind.
Thanks, Bobbie. I hope you like working with it this week.
Nathan, it seems like a very old image. Not like something taken only a few years ago.
The man crouching – I wonder why he is so uncomfortable… why isn’t he willing to touch the grass with his torso?
The photo has a certain antysyness to it for lack of a better term.
Oh, a story is riding up.
Always a good thing.
Are we allowed to post this photo with our poems? And if so, what should the link be?
The current link points to a profile we cannot see, unless we are friends with the photographer.
Sharon, you can certainly use the image. Why don’t you link back to this post?
Will do — I do that, anyway.
Calling the Ghost…
How long must I sit on your grave to elicit a visitation? Must I fast? Must I meditate on the vastness of the universe of death? Must I count my own? Must I arrive at midnight to cohere your ashes back to some semblance of you? If I wake, if I sleep, w…