Best Photo Poems
Five years ago, to me, you were just a photo
I had no idea who you were
Through your words and kindness
We've become wonderful distant friends
You have opened your heart to me, and I to you
You have made me smile, laugh and sometimes cry
Even though we've never met face-to-face
I wept when you said goodbye, forever
And I smiled when you became, anew
You expressed your feelings and emotions
Told me about your love and lovers
Reminded me of my childhood
And helped me cope with my growing age
I never knew what would become of us
I never knew what a joy it would bring to me
But now I know, and I've come to realize
Spending an initial thirty-five dollars
And eventually becoming a life-time member
Was clearly one of the best investments I have ever made
You have brightened my hours, my days, and my life
So, I just want to say
To PoetrySoup and to all the wonderful friends I've met here
From the bottom of my heart...
I thank you all
Seeing my Daddy in black and white moves my emotional colors
into a vibrant rainbow that was Daddy made decades ago.
Only twenty-seven in the photo, Dad's patience had yet to grow.
Daddy loved us
My brother and I thought him old and always right with Dad powers.
He was actually quite young with wife, career and two small tykes.
Despite my flashbulb-face, I could easily visit the photograph for hours.
I know it is from Fort Lee, Virginia, and my tights have likely slid down.
I love seeing Dad's arms around us while we are leaning on his knee.
I love seeing us pressed against his chest and our heads leaning close.
Daddy loved us
Looking at the photograph, I can completely sense him, even his skin.
My brother is four and years away from bipolar, he is still a happy boy.
I am newly three and except for tights, nothing has ever bothered me.
In this photo Daddy is visibly near, not gone as called back to heaven.
This photo wilts my composure for I dearly wish he had lived to be older.
As a retired Army officer, at sixty-seven, Agent Orange finally caught him.
Daddy loved us
She searches through his remnants
Trying to find her broken pieces
Had she been important to him?
She finds a single piece of yellowed paper
Her name written in his elegant hand
Those hands that had held her once
Strong hands
She had felt safe in those hands
Unaware of his weakness,
his lacking
Why had he left?
She kept looking though drawers and boxes
Feverishly searching for answers
Only one photo
Taken so very long ago
Proof that they had been part of his life
The proof felt like a knife
Those young faces smiling at her
Blissfully unaware of what was to come
Daddy was leaving
He wasn't coming home again
She hands the photo to her sister
There must be more
She keeps searching
Unaware of what was important to him
Wanting more clues
Answers
Reasons
Another piece of paper
Her sisters name with her children listed underneath
The grandchildren he never got to know
She can't help wonder
Why were they not enough
And she realizes it was his lacking
It was never theirs
There was nothing they could have done
They could not be better girls
Happier girls
Good enough girls!
He was broken
Lonely long before them
His remnants scattered
Indecipherable
She looks at her sisters
They cry together
Sad for the loss of what they did not have
Yet beneath the tears they smile
Holding each other's delicate hands
For they possess a strength he never had
They have stayed together
Loved each other
Carried each other's burdens
Resilient
Loving
Caring
They have survived
If he had known them
He would have been so proud
Dedicated to and inspired by Bev Smith.
WHAT THE!!!.........WHO IS THIS???
WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'VE BEEN PHOTO SHOPPED???
How could that possibly be?
I only wanted the picture cropped and framed!
You can't really think that looks like me!
When did I become seven feet tall?
My eyes are brown, not Malachite green!
You've made my arms longer than my legs!
Why are my ears the color of Tangerine???
I like to smile but you've given me one
that goes off my face left and right!
And what's up with half of me looking like day,
and the other half looking like night???
You've given me two feet so long
I have to go to an intersection
just to turn around!
And I've never had hair down to my knees!!!
You might as well have let it touch the ground!
You've given me a superhero's upper body
with a waistline the size of a pen!
Oh, come on! Those legs look like two soda straws!
This is one weird looking specimen!!!
The camera was designed to reflect real life
in pictures portraying life as it is!
I don't take selfies every two seconds!!!
What sort of madness is this?
I am not a celebrity
who has to be over concerned with a look!
Please! Put everything back the way it was
for my request you have grossly mistook!
Whatever the world is coming to
some things really need to be stopped!
"You gave me a nose like a battleship anchor!!!"
WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'VE BEEN PHOTO SHOPPED???
WTA-IV 5/11/2016
To see this Photo please use the following URL of the face book.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=116675645690270&set=gm.1727230410916544&type=3&theater
Photo Poem . 01
In English-
.
These beautiful swans adjusting their wings slowly
While focusing their eyes and concentration in the lake water
The Sun seems a little uneasy in such calm & quietness
The magic of the scene enchanted even the winds
Earlier, such a scenic beauty was so common
in our villages near ponds and puddles
But all this is lost in the dust of modern forests
We no more see frequently those farm and the barns
How very far away,
We have gone from our beautiful Natural surroundings
From the enchanting inherent beauty of our country's life. "
.
In Hindi
.
"ye apanee pankhon ko hole se samet kar baithate
paanee mein nazaren tikaate sundar se Hans pakshee
khaamosh fizaaon mein kuchh machalata sa sooraj
ye thahari havaon ka madahosh karata jaadoo
pahale kabhee dikhata tha har gaanv aur pokhar par
par khoya ye sab, ab aadhunik jangal mein
ab to khet aur khalihaan bhee nahin dikhate aksar,
kitane door ho gae hain hm, sb se apne sundar parivesh se
apanee desh ke jeevan kii sundarata aur sahajata se."
.
Ravindra K Kapoor
MP India 12th Sept. 2017
You may think that I am famous
Can't recall my name but
You've seen me hang out with the stars
Believe me I'm right there with ya
I'm in their every picture
They don't know me but I know who they are
Thought it'd do me a world of good
To move out West to Hollywood
And try to get my name put up in lights
I myself see nothing wrong
Being the king of the Photo Bomb
Though I'm still matinee and not full price
When I see a major star
I run up to their fancy car
And kindly open up the door
They all give me the strangest glance
When they can't quite place me yet
They feel they've seen me somewhere before
I'm at the next table in the restaurant
Sitting smiling nonchalant
Big toothy grins when the flash bulbs go pop
I'm the guy by the swimming pool
In the Speedo looking cool
Waiting on the Photo Bomb to drop
Or the guy on the red carpet
Expertly placing my spinning head
At the perfect strategical angle
So when the picture does appear
In all the Major Rags for years
I'll be more famous than Charlie Rangel
Those of us that'll never make it
Can anyone really blame us
For trying to slide our way to the top
It's all I really know how to do
If you really must know the truth
My only claim to fame...the Photo Bomb
A small dark-haired boy
absorbed in the words he scrawls
at an old wood desk
has thoughts brighter than grim walls
beyond which his future sprawls
Nov. 23, 2017 for Eve Roper's Photostory Contest
My Notes: You May find it difficult to understand the situation in this poem, so did I, but not in the reading. I’m a hack Poet at best, which is why I didn’t submit it in the contest about rising above reality. When I finish the short story on the events this poem is based it will be come apparent, and like me you will say; “WHAT?” .
Mom said, “No sex before marriage,”
With rules she thought were quite sage.
But in her wedding shot,
I see a twist in the plot—
Was her vow just a part of the age?
I saw a battled frame
housing a black
and white photo
of a hero
in war,
proudly posing
hiding his fear,
his fragility
some family's pride
and country's
creased,
in a junk shop
This Click in time,
In this old photo,
The faces are fading,
From so long, long ago.
Names not remembered,
How long ago?
No ones seems to know.
Who were they,
That took the time for this photo?
It is proof that they were once here,
My eyes do not lie,
But it is hard to resist,
Wondering if they ever did exist.
What was behind those eyes,
What were they thinking,
At that moment in their lives?
Is there anyone left,
Who can make them real,
And tell us what they thought,
What they did and how they feel?
I may not know them,
And no one remembers,
But God knew them before they were born,
And remembers them now that they are gone.
Just a click in time,
So long, long ago,
In this old photo.
Sun reflect—
soporific effect
of sultry, languorous afternoon.
A photo album, open in an attic room,
of my family and dear friends gone all too soon.
Phantasmagorically fey—
gallimaufry in stray
disarray.
This is a collaboration of a photo that I took and a poem written by poet Probir Gupta inspired by the photo. (I apologize for the size of the photo - I was unable to get it posted, the regular size, except for when it is blurry).
in the green and blue
your footprints too -
my memory
Probir Gupta
9/20/23
Inside a frozen moment you wait
the door ajar
as if to capture the faintest echo
of footfall
the mirror scrutinizing that empty space
on the couch
my reflection endlessly snared
in mute counterpoint.
Between cradle and grave, live today
Seize the day forwards, backwards and across
A photo captures the essence of life, better than anything
A trilling laugh observed by a camera lens
He had no worries
... his eyes smile and the mouth laughs
Do not cry because the boy has become an adult man
Live simply, expect little and give much
Yesterday is past ... dance even if it rains
Your feet will get wet ... who cares
He had no worries
... he was happy even with wet feet
19.06.2017
Sun :) - A-L Andresen :)
Copyright © All Rights Reserved