Finding Images

[jdeirmend]

I often find that when I'm trying to write, I generally have a clear, if abstract idea of what it is that I want to convey. Putting it into the right images is always the biggest challenge. I'll sit and speculate, read over what I've already written, and sometimes wait for long periods of time before anything seems to arise. What do you do to find your images?

[Leanne]

I generally go in the other direction -- I'll see or hear something and then think "that's a bit of a metaphor for this..." But that's most likely because I'm a little bit backwards.

When it comes to inspiration, there is nothing to be done but to observe everything, even the most "unpoetic" of subjects, because you never know when something's going to spark off a poem.

[cidermaid]

I'm a bit of both. Sometimes something is important to me and this is my prompt, but most of the time it is the unexpected that catches my eye or mind and triggers a prompt...and as Leanne said this can be anything. For me i tend to over think things so I am currently trying to adress this with more free writing projects. One of the most helpful things I did recently was to try my hand at the surreal exercises in the poetry practice threads. It yielded surprising results in terms of the images that came out of seemingly nowhere.

[jdeirmend]

Leanne & cidermaid,

Your remarks led me to remember this dealy. If you've not read it, it is a very cool bit of exegesis about how an experience in the world got the poetic gears churning for the poet in question.

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poe...ckerel.htm

The further question this arouses: how do you find such objects, that reveal themselves as "charged" with meaning in this way? It seems to me that there is an essential element of passivity here, i.e., we have to somehow be open, so that we can be found by them.

[cidermaid]

Hi good link - interesting article. Thanks for posting.
Addressing you next thought, I would have to say that I disagree with the notion that there is an essential element of passivity. I would say open is a good description but this I perceive is done in an active and engaged way as opposed to passive. For me I feel that there is an active "seeker" aspect to my perceptions. (Admittedly there are occasions when I am surprised by an image...and there is real joy in these discoveries and revelations), but the basis of seeing is in having eyes to see. (If you can forgive the blatant religious connection here). I believe in the aspect of beauty (or revulsion for that matter)it is in the eye of the beholder. An image that is all good and admirable to me might be a complete turn off for another. I find I am drawn to the little details often in my perception of beauty. So for example for me individual stones set in a concrete floor has often held me captivated with thoughts about where that stone has come from and what forces formed its shape and colour what story it would tell...I don't think concrete is boring or ugly.
So in short I don't think that objects reveal themselves as charged with meaning,I think that they are, and they do not find me...I think it is more a case of meeting up and making acquaintance with new friends and finding new depths in old friends.

[rayheinrich]

Google is a great way to find visual images that inspire word ones.

Process:
I'm abstractly thinking about spring and love and need some image to
write around. The problem, of course, is that this topic has been beaten
to death and it's hard to figure out something a bit fresh. I say 'a bit'
because it's virtually impossible not to sound clichéd when using this
topic. But what the fuck; it doesn't have to be a gem, just something I like.

Put the words 'spring' and 'love' into the google search bar and when
the page comes up click on 'images' at the top.

This brings up a raft of sappy images, but if you look closely there are
a few that get you to thinking.

One way to cut down on the sappy ones and give you additional ideas
is to use a thesaurus to find similar (don't have to be that close in
meaning) words that aren't so used (thesaurus.com is a good one).

So do the google thing and look down the list of images. (The best ones
are usually WAY down.)

Poem done this way:

< spring is very close >

and making a living
(the crows tell me)
will get easier
and the wind
will pick up
and i imagine kites
of all colors
flying at the ends of imaginings
and later
when it's summer
i can see the peace of sunset
and us
swimming in its lake

- - -


P.S In need of a list of emotions?
Google "Plutchik wheel" or look below:

[Keith]

I normally have a frame of a poem that needs more, to fill it I look at the details that lie within the detail of the chosen frame then try and piece it together this would normal avoid cliché and hopefully let the reader see what you see. Warning I often fail by writing something that needs my thoughts in order to be understood, the detail and the frame is easily lost. Hope this makes sense. Cheers Keith

[ellajam]

Google is a great way to find visual images that inspire word ones.

Process:
I'm abstractly thinking about spring and love and need some image to
write around. The problem, of course, is that this topic has been beaten
to death and it's hard to figure out something a bit fresh. I say 'a bit'
because it's virtually impossible not to sound clichéd when using this
topic. But what the fuck; it doesn't have to be a gem, just something I like.

Put the words 'spring' and 'love' into the google search bar and when
the page comes up click on 'images' at the top.

This brings up a raft of sappy images, but if you look closely there are
a few that get you to thinking.

One way to cut down on the sappy ones and give you additional ideas
is to use a thesaurus to find similar (don't have to be that close in
meaning) words that aren't so used (thesaurus.com is a good one).

So do the google thing and look down the list of images. (The best ones
are usually WAY down.)

Poem done this way:

< spring is very close >

and making a living
(the crows tell me)
will get easier
and the wind
will pick up
and i imagine kites
of all colors
flying at the ends of imaginings
and later
when it's summer
i can see the peace of sunset
and us
swimming in its lake

- - -


P.S In need of a list of emotions?
Google "Plutchik wheel" or look below:

Thanks, Ray, great tip.

[jdeirmend]

Ray, thank you, I also found that helpful all around. I'm intrigued by the emotions wheel, in spite of some substantive disagreement with the way it explains varied emotions and their relationships. Keith, I think your advice exemplifies the very pitfall it describes in your "warning." If you give it some time and some careful thought, though, you might re-state it in a more compelling, if comprehensible way.

To continue the discussion: my mind is always running from one thought, one idea, one memory or experience to another. Sometimes, an idea or an image will just strike me amid the ho hum of the day. Something just seems to pop up, and demands that I dig deeper, down into its roots. When nothing is forthcoming, art can be a catalyst here. Music is very good; I seldom write without it playing in the background. A night out drinking can get the gears turning in a helpful way, too. Now that I think about it, to try and find images, though, often seems to me a fool's errand. Rather do I think I must be found by them. I have to be moved, prompted, cajoled, pricked or pained by something outside of me.

[billy]

i just look inside my head

[ChristopherSea]

i just look inside my head

I paint my own!