I always look forward to writing in response to Ethical ELA's monthly prompts, even though I generally keep my responses in my notebook. One day last week Dave Wooley offered up a prompt. He invited people to use Leah Kindler's "Why I Write Poetry" as a mentor and respond with a list poem using anaphora (which is, according to Merriam-Webster, not a Greek vase ;), but instead "a word or expression...repeated at the beginning of a number of sentences, clauses, or phrases.")
If you know me or follow my blog, you know that I love to take pictures and often share them on Facebook. It's become an essential part of my world. It seemed natural to ponder why I take photographs.
Why I Take Pictures
(after Leah Kindler and Major Jackson)
Because each dawn is a promise
Because it slows me down from rushrushrush
to hushhushhush
Because it helps me to lose
and find myself, simultaneously
Because when I switch my perspective
new worlds are unveiled
Because I can escape the heaviness of today
through the portal of a lens
Because there’s magic in watching a heron
unfold its wings and rise from the silent marsh
Because sometimes deep in the core
of a pile of haphazardly heaped snow
a blue heart glows
Because the sky is a living canvas as is the marsh
as is the forest as is each individual tree
Because a reflection reflects, and the birds, oh the birds!
Because time ceases to matter
Because sometimes I can capture what I see
and what I feel
and then transcend both
Because even when my camera is not in my hand,
it’s tuned me to resonate
to the exquisite
Because even when my breath exhales into frost and my fingers
bone-ache with cold,
joy flutters and takes flight.
©Molly Hogan, draft
Yesterday morning I was trying to be productive and take advantage of a two-hour delay, but then I saw the ice outside, and the flocks of robins, and before I knew it, I was out the door and taking pictures...in my slippers!
This week’s Poetry Friday Roundup is with Susan Thomsen at her blog, Chicken Spaghetti.
Nix the comfort zone 
I love this manifesto, this Statement of Core Values! The flow from the reasons why photography is an escape, to the reasons that explain how deeply ingrained the photographic mindset has become for you (“it’s tuned me to resonate / to the exquisite”) is powerful. And though you don’t include the sharing of your photos as one of your Whys, we viewers SO appreciate being able to come along and peek through the lens with you!
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Molly, You had me from “Because each dawn is a promise”! You got some beautiful photos during that two-hour delay, too. When I’m out & about, I’m so often reminded of the old saw that the best camera is the one you have with you.
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I try to remember that even if I don’t have my camera or miss the picture when I do, I still was there and a witness to the moment, whatever it was.
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I love sharing my photos, Mary Lee, and it’s interesting that I didn’t share that in the poem. I don’t think I realized that. Writing this was a bit of a rush job, and I may go back and fiddle with it later. Also, WordPress was not kind to my formatting. Ugh!
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Transcendence, living canvas, surprise, magic, resonating to the exquisite… yes to all!
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Because they’re magic! Yes! As is that closing couplet, Molly. I love that this photo-habit is part of your world, part of you….and that you share it with us! Thank you! xo
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Thanks, Irene. I’m so grateful that photography is a part of my life and that I can share it with others so easily through technology.
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Life moves so fast – anything that helps us slow down and take in the beauty of the moment is a precious gift. ❤
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#truth That’s one of my favorite things about my photography habit–getting me to slow down and get out of my own head.
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Molly, your post takes me from rushrushrush to hushhushhush! Your photos are gorgeous! I love that you went out in your slippers to take pictures. : )
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My toes were quite chilly when I came back inside and I don’t think I did my slippers any favors! I just didn’t want to take the time to get boots, etc, on. Did I mention I was still in my bathrobe? lol I did stop to throw on a hat though…
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Haha, a hat is perfect!
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Happily I have no near neighbors, so I can be as odd as I like 🙂
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You had me from “Because each dawn is a promise.” You got some great 2-hour-delay photos!
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Thanks! I kept thinking I’d get in to school early and get some stuff done, but then there was all the ice, and the light, and….well, let’s just say there were a lot of distractions!
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Gorgeous all the way around, Molly — and, “because moments become words with wings” – thanks to your photos and poems.
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Thank you! I love the overlap between poetry and photography.
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You write stirring poetry, and capture stunning moments. It’s a beautiful gift you have, to be sharing. Thank-you, Molly. (I can relate to so much of this poem. The images – a glimpse into another world.)
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Kat, I was so glad to see your post today. We’re both stirring the pot of photography and poetry. 🙂
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Yes yes yes to all your reasons! And your photos are so very beautiful, too, so thank you for taking and sharing them!
Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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Thanks, Ruth! I’m so appreciative of the audience!
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Wow! These pictures are gorgeous!!! And I love your use of anaphora!
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Thanks, Marcie! A glaze of ice can really transform the world.
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Your poem and photos are stunning, Molly. “Because each dawn is a promise” – sigh.
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I feel that sense of dawn’s promise so strongly almost every day, Rose. That, in and of itself, is a gift. And when I have time to actually wander and take pictures? Well, I guess that’s a blessing of sorts.
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This poem is a perfect form for you to share your love of photography. It resonates and builds with images and emotion. This poem should be in your book of photo poems that I encourage you to create because I want it on my coffee table.
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Thanks for the constant encouragement, Margaret. Maybe some day I will actually tackle that project.
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“Even in your slippers”! Your joy of it all comes through to me every time I see one of your photos, Molly. It’s an ode to who “you” are, too, at least to me, taking in the part of nature & then often sharing your discoveries with us, too. What a lovely poem to read. I kept saying “yes!”. My mantra often is #getoutside. I imagine yours is, too!
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Best mantra of all, and I really came to it later in life. I’m so grateful!
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even though fingers bone-ache with cold…that is the artist willing to pay the cost for the art. Just beautiful, Molly. A great take on that poem prompt. And, such great introduction poem to a collection of ekphrastic poems with your gorgeous photos. I love writing to your photos!
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Thanks! Knowing that you (though you are tagged as anonymous–darned wordpress!) are writing to my photos makes me so happy!
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Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos and poem. I especially love “Because it slows me down from rushrushrush / to hushhushhush.” It baffles me how that robin can be warm enough in the same outfit it wears in the spring!
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There was a giant flock of them in the tree! It’s only in recent years that we’ve begun to see them in the winter here (in Maine). I find it fascinating that they’re solitary in summer, but flock together in winter.
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Your photos and your poem are just beautiful! I didn’t know that kind of repetition was called anaphora!
Like Karin, the lines with “rushrushrush” and “hushhushhush” really stood out for me. Such an effective use of repetition.
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Thanks, Elisabeth. I had to look up “anaphora” as I am not well versed in technical poetry terms. I just heard today that there’s a word for beginning each line of a poem with an uppercase letter (which used to be the convention)–it’s “majusculation”. Seriously…who knew?
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This poem is you on the page, Molly. What a beautiful ode to the rewards of taking pictures! And herons abound this morning :>)
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Thanks, Laura! May herons abound each and every day!
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Molly, wow. I’m so glad I came to read this poem. It is just gorgeous. I smiled throughout. So much to love–the hushhushhush,
“Because sometimes deep in the core
of a pile of haphazardly heaped snow
a blue heart glows”
and “the birds, oh the birds”
Oh, my! I loved it, and then the photos you took in your slippers just add an exclamation mark to your beautiful poem.
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Thanks, Denise. I am so thankful for the role that photography plays in my life, and the prompt was a wonderful way in to writing about it.
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This is GORGEOUS (as are your photos) and the poem really made me think we should all reflect like this, on why we do what we do. There’s something so beautiful and validating about naming it!
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Thank you! I could see using this prompt in so many ways. It really is a wonderful way to reflect!
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[…] https://nixthecomfortzone.com/2024/01/26/why-i-take-pictures/ […]
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OMG! That’s amazing. Got to be in the MBH Poetry Anthology! I’m working on agent for you! These opening lines wow! ”Because each dawn is a promise
Because it slows me down from rushrushrush
to hushhushhush”
OMG. Well done Winter Lady!
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