A Tsunami of Images

              Thanks to the digital revolution, visual images are everywhere. No matter where  we are, we can't escape from them.  For those who recognize the potential these images have for inspiring writing, the rewards are great.  Show a group of people a simple photograph of waves beating against the shore and you’ll be amazed by their responses. Some will recall memories of seaside childhoods; others will visualize sea stories, shipwrecks, mysteries of the deep, and more. Still others will venture into the abstract—the world of simile, metaphor, and personification—perhaps transcribing a bit of themselves.

            Did you ever wonder how  some observers would react to a simple photograph of fish? Here’s how Laura Pastuszek responded to the photograph she took when she taught English in South Korea during the summer of 2008. An adjunct professor at Towson University, Pastuszek currently teaches a course titled “Writing and Communications for Teachers.”      

       Foreign Fish                                                                       

Two strangers from two different sands
Observe the gathering of food
In a foreign land

How beautiful and plentiful the sea must be

Remarks one to the other

The reply is not of glee

It is the raping of oceans

Taking more than necessary

A crime of epic proportions

A culture far removed

Lives to feed its own

Without an invitation for others to approve

           Viewed in isolation, Pastuszek’s  photograph of fish provides ample inspiration for writing. What’s more, when you pair the photo with the poem, you create additional  possibilities for writing. But that’s not all. If you add a relevant quotation, you’ll have generated a combination that’s hard to beat. Here’s an example. “Three quarters of the miseries and misunderstandings in the world would finish if people were to put on the shoes of their adversaries and understand their points of view.” —Mahatma Ghandi

Inspiration from the Masters

           Of course, images other than photographs can offer many possibilities for stimulating creativity and inspiring writing. A teacher of English, drama, and creative writing at Lake Forest High School in the suburbs of Chicago, Karen Topham has been indulging in her passions for writing and the arts for thirty years. Here’s how she responded to Edvard Munch’s 1893 painting, The Scream.

       Scream (after Munch)

  

what rawness then

what orange blue intensity

what whirling winding nightmare

infests your soul

when like a man possessed

you turn your back on

the sweetness of the day—

the harbor rich with spreading sails

the sunset rolling waves across the sky—

and staring into empty space

or at some demon gnawing at your mind

you lift your hands to your face

hold tightly to your melting

frameless form

and wait to hear

the heavens

when they scream

            Munch’s painting and Topham’s poem provide another example of the power of images to trigger creative responses. As always, if you add a relevant quotation, you’ll create even more possibilities. In this example, you could cite these lines by Jean-Paul Sartre. “Anything, anything would be better than this agony of mind, this creeping pain that gnaws and fumbles and caresses one and never hurts quite enough.”

          Whether you’re seeking inspiration for your own writing, teaching students at any level, or conducting workshops or seminars for others, you’ll find that photographs and other images are powerful aids to eliciting creative responses and inspiring writing. And when you add relevant quotations, you’ll be delighted by the results.

Foreign Fish and Scream originally appeared in Reflect and Write: 300 Poems and Photographs to Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner and Elizabeth Guy (Prufrock Press, 2013). Now more than ever we must take advantage of the power of graphic images to help inspire writing.  Taken together, the more than 300 poems, photographs, and quotations included in this book will help stimulate creative ideas that will evoke meaningful writing not only by students in grades 7-12 and up, but also by writers of all ages. See sample pages, read reviews, and buy now at http://www.prufrock.com/Reflect-and-Write-P1752.aspx.

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