On
Sunday, after the sporadic showers on the previous day, Shaun and I decided
that our plan to revisit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park was probably a bad one.
Therefore, Shaun suggested a trip to the National Media Museum in Bradford.
He'd visited some years ago with Scouts and believed it would be something I'd
enjoy. As is usually the case, he was right. It was a fantastic day: learning
about the history of photography, television and the internet; watching strange
video footage of acrobatic flies and Black Country delicacies; and taking in
the Magnum Open for Business exhibition - "the
story of contemporary British manufacturing and industry told through the lens
of 9 Magnum photographers." Here I found myself drawn to a trio of black
and white photographs by Stuart Franklin. One, a photograph of a wave
machine inspired me to write a poem and, although only an early draft, I
thought I'd share it.
Sea
Monster
This
mechanical whale does not harness
the
energy of the waves.
Instead
it rises in the storm's swell,
churns
and foams the waters further.
These
ribs aren't wooden groynes,
and
this wall of tissue provides no armour.
For
all worries form a cloud of plankton -
dredged
into the bowels of an unforgiving beast.
Thank
you for reading,
Lara
5 comments:
"dredged into the bowels of an unforgiving beast."
This could also be a line about the music, film and tv industry.
Love the post
I like this very much , Lara - I have yet to visit the museum, but the Head at the small school in St Annes I taught at in 1991 to 1997 used to take a party of pupils each year as she had a very high opinion of it.
I also like ekphrastic poems very much - as you will see I post a lot of painting, sculpture and vivid photos on my Fb page, sometimes turning them into poems of my own. Yours proves that you are a word-alchemist.
Groynes. Wow. That's a new one on me.
The poem's got an unsettling quality to it. I think it's combination of groynes (groins), ribs and bowels coupled with churning and dredging. It makes me a little sea sick to think about it.
The photograph is amazing - looks just like a whale!
So happy you're feeling inspired :)
Welcome back from the depths ...of my heart. "I didn't know you could speak whale".
Christo,
I also really love ekphrastic poetry - and thank you for your kind comments, a 'word-alchemist' is a beautiful phrase.
Vicky,
You can thank A-level geography for my remembering of the word 'groynes'. We went on an amazing field trip to the Norfolk coast, explored the coastline and examined the different types of sea defences that were being used. Groynes and rip-rap were the two that always stuck in my mind.
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