One of the flashes of understanding that’s been dawning on me is
Imagism. I said as much, yesterday when
I left a comment about one of my pictures in the Visual Journalling course I’m
doing: If there's a relationship between my words and pictures I have discovered
that Imagism expresses it well.
Imagists "believed that poetry should
employ the language of common speech, create new rhythms, have complete freedom
in subject matter, and present a clear, concentrated, and precise image. Their three tenets were:
1) Direct treatment of the “thing," whether subjective or
objective.
2) To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the
presentation.
3) As regarding rhythm: to compose in sequence of the musical phrase,
not in sequence of the metronome.
To my mind this applies as much to my photographs as it does to my poetry,
because I make both.
So my task (should I choose to accept it!) is to make photographs and
poems that are concerned with the essence of a thing. A tall order, by any stretch of the
imagination. But just as I have learned
to be careful to ensure that all the images I make have a focus (tell a story)
this must apply as much to writing. An
essayist would call this making an argument…
When I look through the viewfinder I am concerned to remove all
distracting and excess detail; the same must apply to my poetry, as well.
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