by Dana Guthrie Martin
Whee! Whee! This week’s Read Write (Image) Prompt is full of movement.
Do you have memories of being at a crowded fair when you were a child (or even as an adult)? Why not write about what this image conjures? Are you afraid of heights or of moving too fast? (I personally am afraid of both.) You could enter into the image by thinking about heights or velocity. Do the movements of these objects remind you of anything else — giant wheels, UFOs, a mushroom cloud? The possibilities, as always, are limitless.
We just want you to write, so write, already!
Leave your ideas about how to respond to the photo in the comments section of this post, then leave links to your work next Thursday in the comments section of the Get Your Poem On post.
 Fair Fireworks, by auburnnewyork (Note: If you include this photo in your post along with your poem, make sure you credit the artist.)
 Dana Guthrie Martin is the founder of Read Write Poem. She writes things and stuff. Most of the time, her things and stuff happen to be poetry, or at least they call themselves poetry. She has a robot named Feldman. He’s writing a book of poems.
by Nathan Moore
I find this image striking on many levels. The bright red of the figure in the foreground, the way the white figure in the background seems to glow, the reflected light on chrome — the colors and details are brilliant.
There’s something about these figures that fascinates me. Maybe it’s their anonymity, the way they blur into the background. Maybe I like the weird sense of playful sadness they radiate.
What do you see here? Do you think of games and competition? Your childhood? Faceless pawns participating in a system in which they have no control?
Leave reflections on the photo and other ideas in the comments section of this post, then leave links to your work next Thursday in the comments section of the Get Your Poem On post.
 My Angel and My Devil by Thomas Hawk (Note: If you include this photo in your post along with your poem, make sure you credit the artist.)
 Nathan Moore is community director and a columnist for Read Write Poem. In his spare time, he plays with his children and with fire. Never at the same time. He blogs at Exhaust Fumes and French Fries.
by Nathan Moore
Take a look at this image. What are your first thoughts? Do you wonder about the cultural or historical significance of what is happening? Why is this crowd gathered? Is this a festival? What are they celebrating?
Do you immediately think about the image in symbolic terms? Do you start to think of what the figure balancing a flaming star might represent in terms of art, spirituality or passion?
Does your mind instantly go to the formal aspects of the image? Do you linger on the color the flames reflect on the figure’s body? The stark contrast of fire against a night sky?
Street performers are fascinating. They shine an intense light on the boundary between crowd and performer. In a way, they take our own daily performances as members of the crowd and exaggerate them, make them strange. In a similar way, festivals — at their best — turn our daily lives upside down through an estrangement of our “normal” world.
However you choose to find your way into this image, write about what you envision. I look forward to reading what you’ve come up with next week.
 NYE on Paseo Reforma -- Street Performer by bradleyolin (Note: If you include this photo in your post along with your poem, make sure you credit the artist.)
Nathan Moore is community director and a columnist for Read Write Poem. In his spare time, he plays with his children and with fire. Never at the same time. He blogs at Exhaust Fumes and French Fries.
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.)
by Dana Guthrie Martin
I looked at oncle Jim’s work on Flickr and immediately thought, “How does this person know about my strangest, most disturbing, dreams?” I was especially struck by this image of a human with a donkey head* sitting in a field, holding a tattered umbrella. There’s clearly a surreal quality to this piece, but it also manages to somehow invoke a feeling of serenity.
As the community management team mentioned in our post about changes we’re making to Read Write Poem, we are folding the Read Write Image post in with the regular lineup of Read Write Prompts that we share every Friday. I hope you like this photo and can find a way into it for your poem this week.
Perhaps you can use the image to enter into a dream or surreal state. Perhaps you want to talk about why there’s a donkey-headed person (or a person-bodied donkey, depending on your perspective) sitting in the middle of a field. A dramatic monologue might even be in order.
Whatever you write, we look forward to reading it when you leave a link to your work on next Thursday’s Get Your Poem On post.
If you choose to include the image on your site along with your poem, make sure you link back to it. Also, attribute the photo to oncle Jim, as required by the Creative Commons license.
Note: Read Write Poem participant Dave Bonta thinks this is a kangaroo head and not a donkey head. He’s probably right, since he knows things. But you can make it be whatever kind of animal you like.
(Note: If you include this photo in your post along with your poem, make sure you credit the artist.)
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read write poem news- read write poem napowrimo anthology
June 20, 2010 | 1:36 pmThe Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Anthology is still in production. Selection, placement, layout and copyediting are taking longer than anticipated. Thank you for your patience. I hope to have the piece completed in July. For those who have emailed asking if they can be included, the May 7 deadline for submission of work stands. Those who met that deadline will be included. Please check the post on this site listing who I received submissions from by that date. If you submitted your work by the May 7 deadline in accordance with our guidelines and your name is not listed, send an email to info (at) readwritepoem (dot) org.
- read write poem napowrimo anthology
May 5, 2010 | 3:09 pmRemember that Friday* is the deadline for submitting work to the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Anthology. Check out the guidelines for submission in the main column (to the left). On May 8, we’ll post a news item listing everyone we’ve received work from. If you submitted work and your name is not on that list, please let us know. Thanks!
*I initially said “tomorrow,” but I meant to say “Friday.”
- napowrimo congratulations, and a reminder
April 24, 2010 | 12:05 pmIt’s the final week of the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge! Just 7 days left. With that, a reminder that Read Write Poem will culminate with the anthology featuring work from those who complete the challenge. A post with details for submitting to the anthology will be published May 1. Be sure you remove any information from the site that you want preserved — such as group content and personal messages. Those elements of the site will be removed May 1 as well. The main site will remain up as an archive.
- ‘underlife’ tour at january gill o’neil’s blog
April 20, 2010 | 8:11 pmJanuary Gill O’Neil’s virtual book tour has moved to her site and is underway now. Check out the lineup at Poet Mom.
 Archive for read write poem news »
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thank you and farewell As of May 1, 2010, Read Write Poem is no longer active.
In late May, an anthology featuring work from those who completed the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge will be published here and on issuu.com.
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