by the Read Write Poem Staff
Does the intensity of NaPoWriMo have you talking to yourself yet? Almost? Perfect! Rhiannon’s prompt gives you something else on which to focus these conversations: pictures.
Many people collect favourite images, whether as memories or posters, sketches or computer files. Pick one such collection of yours – a stamp collection, a postcard book, a file of photos – and rifle through it until something catches your eye. (If you don’t have such a collection, try putting a word – any word – into Google image search or flick through the website of an art gallery.)
Once you have an image, begin to interrogate it for poems. Ask: Who or what in this picture could speak? What would they say? Why is this image meaningful to me? When I look at it, what am I remembering? How does this image make me feel? Which of my moods is easiest to find in it? Where would I want to display picture? Who do I want to see it?
Collect the answers to your questions as a hoard of words or phrases. Scatter them across a blank sheet of paper, then check for patterns. What rhymes? Where is there alliteration? Is any rhythm apparent? Patterns might suggest a form for the poem.
If there aren’t enough patterns, you have two choices: either write your poem as free verse or go back to the images and generate more words. Have fun! 
Reminders for everyone
Read the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge Kickoff post for details on how the challenge works — and how you can engage with Read Write Poem this month, no matter what your personal writing challenge is for the month of April.
Please read this page to find out how Read Write Poem’s prompt posts work. Remember that work linked from any post this month is shared in precisely that spirit: sharing, as opposed to critiquing. If you haven’t done so already, please read all the pages under About in the navigation bar.
http://poetry-life-distilled.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-day-6.html
I found this prompt really difficult but here’s my sorry effort: http://thekitchenbitchponders.blogspot.com/2010/04/national-poetry-writing-month-day-six.html
After posting “Treasure Box” this morning, I remembered the beginnings of a story poem/song that I began several years ago. “The Memory Box” is about the same box – I decided to return and finish it today. Both are posted at http://bridgeanna.blogspot.com
Blessings on your day!
I love this prompt and decided to write about the one person that I truly cherish my daughter. You’ll find mine here:
http://flaubert-poetrywithme.blogspot.com/2010/04/oh-my-little-baby-girl-auburn-hair.html
Dust
Mine is here: http://bit.ly/9C0iTt
I hope you like it. The picture is not mine but it´s very impressive.
I choose a painting in my living room, by my great-uncle Irving Lehman.
http://daily-yawp.blogspot.com/2010/04/april-6.html
Great to see so many people doing this. Here’s mine for today, based on looking at my own Flickr albums…:
http://just-somestuff.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-6-so-many-birds-and-all-of.html
http://sky-lined.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-day-6.html
A cinquain.
I wrote a haibun for today’s prompt. It’s based on a picture of a great egret. It’s called: The Great Egret.
Here is the poem, “Anti-Sin Pills”:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/nebsy/writing/4954699-napowrimo-6
Based on my comic:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/nebsy/art/4857679-1-should-i-or-shouldnt-i
pamela sayers replied:
April 6th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Nebs,
Love your poem! But your blog isn’t easy to deal with.
Pamela
When I started to look around at objects I found a photo of my friend who is a minister. I recalled when she was ordained—and wrote this poem. It can be found : http://word-painting.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-friends-ordination.html
My poem:
http://estherpoyer.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/babylon-poem/
My image (and song):
http://estherpoyer.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/3030-poem-prompt-day-6-workshop/
This one took a couple tries but I finally came up with something.
Two Poems today. One based on the prompt, another found.
Prompt Poem:
http://paperdreams-jgc.blogspot.com/2010/04/day-six-conversation-with-flowers.html
Found Poem:
http://paperdreams-jgc.blogspot.com/2010/04/day-six-poem-two-found.html
“Here in Silence are Three More” is about tragic nightly images.
http://theresebroderick.wordpress.com
Off prompt!
http://pamelavillars.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/april-6-10-enough” rel=”nofollow”>Enough
pamelavillars replied:
April 6th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Whoa, that didn’t work.
Enough
This is an exercise I do all the time but today was tough. So here’s a snapshot about a snapshot.
http://rustbloommansions.blogspot.com/2010/04/day-six-poem-6-polaroid-fade.html
Poem #6. “Dialectical Queequegs.” Posted at: http://troysworktable.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-6.html
Here’s today’s poem, written on an airplane with the photo in question stuffed into the space between window-shade and fuselage!
http://memali.posterous.com/0630
Kind of worked off today’s prompt, not really with it… Surprised at what came out of me, as usual. Actually, a little bit of found in it
http://novaheart.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/poem-4610-life-on-mars/
http://bygraceandfaith.tumblr.com/
this is the link to todays poem!!!! barely made it
great prompt
http://sadiespoems.blogspot.com/2010/04/image-part-ii.html#comments
Kind of a cop-out, I was fighting with distillation and form and ended up scrapping it in favor of the prompt-itself-as-poem.
Questions About a Photograph of Statues
http://poemsaboutnothinginparticular.blogspot.com/2010/04/questions-about-photograph-of-statues.html
tonight’s poem: joan and the incompetent.
http://rosettathurman.posterous.com/napowrimo-poem-6-what-i-remember-about-toast
Wow, day 6 already. Here is my latest
http://a-mus-ing.blogspot.com/2010/04/hold-my-hand.html
Short and sweet today.
Lune
http://thebooklife.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/4-6/
late late im very very late 1plus1
even later…..but busy day…..but here it is
http://waynepitchko.blogspot.com
http://kolokoli.blogspot.com/2010/04/making-pirozhki.html
This was fun!
look at all of you still going!!!!
here’s mine (on prompt):
http://caroleesherwood.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/napowrimo-6/
I got lost for a bit. The photo I wrote about is one that always relaxes me. I took it last Summer on a trip back home to Texas. http://wp.me/pGBCb-17
Day 6
(My birthday!)
A lighter poem than usual, but I needed lighter today.
Also, I’ve begun posting my poetry on this link:
http://www.wix.com/elford92/WritersBlock
Please, check it out if you wish
Earth Bound
Dozens of birds
Lost in flight,
Snowy feathers
Riding the air.
I wish I were
Them.
The sun
So brutal against
My tender skin,
Warms their feathers
And lends to them
Courage.
I wish I were
Them.
No worries.
No fears.
Just the roar
Of the sea
And the air
Around them,
LIfting them
Into
Oblivion.
kolokolchiki replied:
April 6th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Flying would be amazing!
“Kaleidoscope Baby”: http://redpetals04.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/napowrimo-prompt-6-photo-poem/
this was a VERY busy day, so I’m just posting now:
Smile – my sixth poem
http://richelledodaro.blogspot.com
Absintheur
arrested to the corner
he has had too much glaze
covers his eyeballs
poison his own
settles into the glass
in front of him
a green serum sugared
in an opalescent swirl,
fairies dancing
he does not notice
the skulls carved into the stone
by his head
I wrote a poem inspired from a picture from my birthday party in 1981.
http://evelynnalfred.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-readwritepoem-prompt-6.html
http://wintermintfruit.blogspot.com/2010/04/8v.html I really liked the picture I chose for this~ Eels are so cute!
Wow, this was the toughest one for me yet! It started one way and came out completely different. I had images in mind all day, and thought it would be easy to write to them, but once I got started, it was much harder than I thought. I feel good having completed it, though. Good brain food, that’s what this challenge to write a poem a day is.
My effort is called Believe
My 5 haikus written are here:
http://onlyfootprints.blogspot.com
Whew! I’m wiped! I meant to say my 5 haikus are here: http://onlyfootprints.blogspot.com
OMG. I meant to say http://1965footprints.blogspot.com
Someone should put me away.
http://eveningpoems.blogspot.com/
I think I’ve permanently scarred my brain by trying to write a villanelle.
http://cosmicmermaid.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/leave-the-hair-and-go-free/
Matt Blair replied:
April 6th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
Ah, well done! I’ve thought I should try a villanelle for one of these prompts, and now you’ve just boosted my courage! I’ll accept any scars.
My Day 6 is titled: Trick Photos.
http://tinacelio.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/trick-photos/
#6 is here:
http://robin-turner.blogspot.com/2010/04/between-us.html
Forgive Me
April 6, 2010
Today’s catastrophe?
A mining disaster,
the body count
mountain high and climbing.
The reporters, throats
thick with emotion,
promise more information
after these messages.
Forgive me if I yawn.
Forgive me if I shrug
and change the station.
West Virginia is so very
far away, and yesterday
was opening day.
Between the earthquakes
and the wars,
the unemployment rate
and the homicide rate,
I’ve lost the knack
for caring about strangers.
Try though I might,
I cannot deny my
indifference.
But power doesn’t run
on nothing; the energy
that fires these zeroes and ones
from my fingertips
to your eyes doesn’t
come from nowhere.
The mountain that defends
her treasure so viciously,
the coal that clings to her
mountain so fiercely -
they feed these lights
that let me write.
Try though I might,
I can’t escape my
culpability.
I’m not one for keeping photographs, so I drew inspiration from my vast art collection instead
(that is to say, my ancient, wrinkled poster of Flaming June):
http://thegoodtypist.blogspot.com/2010/04/june-in-springtime.html
I selected a photo of a somewhat distant-relative, generated about twelve poems worth of phrases and lines, and culled a few to make this:
What Keeps the Lights On
Here’s a wee off-prompter: http://poetry.disorderedcosmos.com/2010/04/napowrimo-6b-lifes-finest-moments/
Wow. Six days in and I’m still here! Yay for little victories. So I ended up actually conversing with the image that surrounds my desk at work…a lighthouse. I’ve always loved them and I think writing to this prompt helped me understand WHY. Gotta love poetry!
http://mylineofwords.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-6-to-lighthouse.html
#6 — Today’s Menu
http://mmw113.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-6-todays-menu.html
Kelly replied:
April 6th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
This is a wonderful poem, Mar. I love how it captures the moment and progresses from simple to deep. Nice work! Love your blog name, too.
Here is mine for today: http://tinyurl.com/yjm398p
This was interesting. The photo I used appears in the inside back cover of the April 2010 issue of The Sun magazine.
~~~
The Tree Growing Smack-dab in the Middle of a Grave
The stone border of the grave cracks
under his weight.
The tombstone leans backward out of his way,
like a tooth in a crowded mouth.
I am astonished and amused.
From the size of his knobby roots
I know they sink deep.
Why here? I ask.
Why not? The tree replies.
He is settled, content,
convinced of his entitlement.
Kind of rude, don’t you think,
the way you shoved that tombstone aside?
It wasn’t like that, he says.
The soil was rich here. I grew slowly.
Nothing stopped me.
We stand together silently and then
I feel him begin to laugh—
A crinkly-eyed, grandfatherly laugh.
I don’t need to ask
any more questions.
Wow! I was a little hard-pressed today, but this is what I came up with. Joseph Cornell has been one of my favorite artists for a long time and I love this box.
http://katharinewhitcomb.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-6-joseph-cornell-object-roses.html
Well, I’m not going to make it. the accountant wants to know where my records are. For penance, I’ll read the works of others tomorrow.
And when ones own devices to
life come back, you can only
stand and hope for the best.
Swords may slice wind
in two, but wind, thoughts,
airy and
irreversible
come back as easily
as they were destroyed.
In the world
everything comes back
to where it began -
sometimes, with a
vengeance.
[Based off the Princess of Swords card in the Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot deck]
Okay, I’m a little earlier this evening with my effort, Sunset in Kruger National Park
I chose a picture of Betty Davis, Rock Diva, for my inspiration…
Reflections Internal: NaPoWrimo #6: Whorey Angel (after Betty Davis)
ahhhh….long work day….
just made it…again…
http://motherveg.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/napowrimo-6-converse-with-images/
Heart Of Sprezzatura
Angeliad of Surazeus
2010 04 06
God is vision of our true ideal self
toward which humans strive to evolve
sailing sea of desire in ship of religion
to create paradise on earth until death.
Complete poem:
http://open.salon.com/blog/surazeus/2010/04/06/heart_of_sprezzatura
http://stores.lulu.com/angeliad
No, really, this was yesterday, I swear: http://jasonriedy.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/63/
Prairie dogs make me happy.
Shameless, if I must! I must.
NaPoWriMo #06 Goldy Bear
Mine is called Polish Horses, based on a postcard.
http://web.me.com/susansonnen/Susan_Sonnens_musings/Blog/Entries/2010/4/6_NaPoWriMo%2C_Day_6.html
pamela sayers replied:
April 6th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Susan,
I love, love horses! This is absolutely beautiful!
Keeping
I plan to do this prompt again, I think it was cheated by the time constraints of the day.
digital images?
Anaïs: Confession Tuesday -Digitize me!
An older gentleman, well dressed and alone, sits on a bench thinking.
Assorted groups of people scattered around the platform looking calm.
The tracks lead to a vanishing point a destination I will know.
My eyes close feeling the rush of a passing train, taking it all in.
As train C approaches with every rumble, I wonder who awaits.
The doors slide open and anticipation floods my body for now.
Slowly that gives way to the apprehension that awaits my travel.
Nostalgia fills my brain as the familiar rhythm of the tracks come.
Familiar intoxicating nerves flicker through my nervous system.
Again the mysterious next station comes into view with intrigue.
I am on the cusp of a new culture begging me to explore it.
How can I say no with its exit stairway beckoning me closer?
Every day this idea and memory helps me get through my classes.
Constant inspiration to give me hope in a mundane circumstance.
One day we shall meet again train C, with your route never ending.
And I will welcome you with open arms and a notebook waiting to record.
It’s still 4/6 on the west coast! I returned to hkoppdelaney’s (see rwp prompt from beginning of March) flickr page and found this beautiful image.
http://freckledwriter.blogspot.com/2010/04/psyche.html
From pictures from camping trips – “Fish Playing Games”
http://comtngrl.livejournal.com/2334.html
Washington Policeman, Spring 1965
after a photo by Evelyn Hofer
He sits beneath cherry blossoms
on a motorcycle black and white
as civil rights, a chessboard
or the romance novels he reads
alone at home with every filament dark
except the one lamp by the bed.
He has moved closer to the trees,
away from the bald, scarred ground
where he’s kept this vigil before.
His hands rest on the gas tank
and the front wheel lolls left,
untouched. The stubborn kickstand
does its duty, tearing the grass slowly
under such weight. This man is ready
for nothing – not the sun glinting
off his shiny helmet, the woman
just out of frame taking his picture,
or the pink petals poised
above his head, waiting
to give themselves to gravity.
I picked a beautiful image off Flickr, which I linked at the bottom of the post. By far the most fun prompt of the week.
Here’s my piece.
http://mayaganesan.blogspot.com/2010/04/napowrimo-6.html
This was a really exciting prompt for me though I did not follow it exactly. I will have to try this one another day following the guidelines.
For now:
http://eyemachine.xanga.com/724908871/napowrimo-slide-decision/
Worked out ok.
http://self-intoxication.deviantart.com/art/Superficial-159862044