Weaving a Story

Writing Inspiration

Today the Daily Create was about a golden insignia and so I searched for “golden” in my photos for something golden in my life. This lovely hike up Pashastin Pinnacles State Park on a sunny spring day overlooking the many orchards along State Highway 2 near Leavenworth, WA provided a much needed break in a long drive. I saw within the photo, the journey of life— always up with struggles and smiles— the stones and the sunflowers of life’s journey. This, then, my poem.

Writing Process

When I enjoyed this past photo, I remembered how we paused frequently on the steep trail and I thought of how life is a struggle of varying degrees with times, too, of joy. I thought of this “reading into a picture” something of my life and also a general way of weaving any viewer’s story into the picture

The progression:.

I wanted to include that feeling of always moving forward, struggling up towards something. That was the first part.

Then I included a bit of my own path— with the obstacles and the obvious little joys that joined my own journey.

Then I returned to the idea of many stories— we humans have similar stories that a picture will evoke, and that both the the good and the bad play into our lives. That and my particulars came next.

Finally, the haiku that describes the difficult and the delightful.

Poetry

Weaving

Reading into the picture, weaving a story in the chosen path. Life is forward and up, with obstacles. A separation, a divorce leads to a different path, still forward and up through the rocky trail. A change in careers requires education and searching to acquire scholarships, grants, and loans with a part-time job to keep a roof beneath the sky and food on the plate. Stories over and over in life, in the picture, and along the way, the journey brings joy— the bright sunflowers of life: a new blended family and eventually, that teaching career. Each story, different. What’s yours?

Narrow and steep paths
riddled with rocks invite joy
when sunflowers bloom

Sheri Edwards
040922 100.365.22
Poetry/Photography

Your Turn

Use this picture or find one of your own.

Weave a possible story you see with it. Use your imagination. Perhaps tell the story of a character in your favorite book. If you include your own story, share it with family or friends and keep it private.

End with a statement or haiku that represents the story through the picture’s elements you describe, as in my haiku.

Update: Picture Resources

If you need resources for photos for a poem, try these:

• Margaret Gibson Simon, Reflections on the Teche: This Photo Wants to be a Poem prompts
• New York Times Picture Prompts
• Pictures for Learning for Schools: Pics4Learning