Fujifilm X-T2, Poetry, Street Photography, Urban
by Patrick Jennings

Ghosts ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #92

Ghostly Rickshaw, Lajpat Nagar Metro Station, New Delhi, India
I carry a haul of ghosts
Along the paths I travel
Some recorded, for all time
And others a shadow memory

Each a fleeting moment
Seen in the context
Of another realm
And none too clearly

What they are
Where they are
Who they are

Preconceptions projected
Upon an object
Obscuring the features
Of the object

I sometimes see
The scattered light
Like a projector’s beam
In a smoky cinema

Reminded of my prejudice
I try to see what is
Beneath what is seen
Edit the image I project

But the projector
It’s always running
The image never quite
Reflects the object

It never occurs to me
The projector becomes a spotlight
If I could just
Remove its image

So I carry them
My collection of ghosts
From place to place
All the way home

Bicycle Rickshaw Line
Lajpat Nagar Metro Station
New Delhi, India

Taken during travels, 2017

Last week we were Becalmed. This week? Let’s go Ghost hunting. Or seek something else to inspire your creativity in this photograph of a ghostly bicycle rickshaw driver in New Delhi, India.

The Pic and a Word Challenge is a weekly creativity prompt offered Sundays.

Each week I provide a photograph of mine along with a single word. The challenge? Use the pic and/or word as points of inspiration to create something — a photograph, a painting, prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, longread or just a few words. You are welcome to use these two elements (photograph and word) literally, thematically or metaphorically. If you create both images and words, all the better.

To participate:

  • Use any title you like
  • Your response can be words and/or an image
  • You may use my image in your post, or any image you have created
  • Place the challenge’s Pic (if you use it for inspiration) and Word prominently in your post
  • Mention that you are responding to the Pic and a Word Challenge
  • Add a link to this post in your response

To help us find your response — whether on WordPress, Instagram, Flicker, Tumblr, etc. — you can also:

  • Add a comment on this post to announce your response
  • Apply the tag/hashtag “Pic and a Word Challenge” or “#picandawordchallenge” to your post

Each week, I’ll list the previous week’s responses at the end of the new challenge. I may also share some on my social media: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc.

Last week’s challenge: Becalmed
Sailboat and Crescent, Howe Sound, Bowen Island from Horseshoe Bay, Sea to Sky Highway, British Columbia, Canada
Challenge #91 ~ Becalmed
The word for last week’s Pic and a Word Challenge #91 was Becalmed, along with this photograph of a ghostly bicycle rickshaw driver in New Delhi, India.

One blogger was Becalmed this week. Thanks CJ (who has yet to miss a challenge, btw: impressive!) =)

View all the Pic and a Word Challenges, including the current challenge, on the Pic and a Word Challenge tag page.