Poetry by Patrick JenningsSep 9, 20189:01 pm

Coast Mountains Wildfires, British Columbia, Canada

Fire ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #152

I cannot see the fire
Still, the sky betrays its presence
As yet the flames present no danger
Though the possibility be mentioned

So am I reminded
A threat may seem remote
Or weak in its intention

But a threat it is
Toxic in its notion

I do well to heed an atmosphere in tension

Poetry by Patrick JenningsSep 8, 20184:16 pm

where there is fire, Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada

Where There’s Fire

Sinewy sifting
Suffusing valleys
Smoke expanding
Soft stifling blanket
Seeking prairies
Eastward

Landscape by Patrick JenningsSep 3, 20182:33 pm

Black Kite over Red Fort, Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi, New Delhi, India III

Naught but the Light

In the darkness
Lay the deepest shadows
Where no light has fallen
For so many years

I visit with them
Let the shadows
Fall under my light
Until they become known to me

Appreciate them for their wisdom
Thank them for their insight
Forgive them for their fears and distractions

Illumined, I see their purpose

Detail by Patrick JenningsSep 2, 20182:20 pm

Detail ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #151

Enrapt in detail
Subtlety and nuance
Lovely and enthralling
I follow the forms
Savour the textures
Delight in the harmonics
Of ever-changing repetitions

Lost in the detail
Context and meaning
Evasive and fractured
I swirl in a sea of the minute
Fruitlessly distracted
Diverted from the present
By endless possibilities

So must I be alert
To the scale of perception
Find the balance between
A piece and the whole
A detail and its meaning
An event and its context

Poetry by Patrick JenningsSep 1, 20187:19 pm

Morning Light

The morning light
Lazily
Through the mist
Highlights fall
On leading edge
While shadows spread
Beyond the stone
On darkened seas
With riffling waves
Curling round
The citadels
Like cirrus clouds
In gentle skies
Blue on blue
White on white
The sea
The sky
In harmony

Poetry by Patrick JenningsAug 27, 20185:02 pm

Dancing with the Darkness

Standing in the light
I see the darkness
The evil from which I emerged
Clearly
For the first time

Just as I cannot know the light
Without darkness
So too I cannot know the darkness
Without light

I thought I knew the darkness well
When I was caught in it
As it touched me
As it coursed through me

I believed the darkness was me

Standing in the light
I sense the true nature of my being
Radiating this warm glow

I have not emerged from the darkness
I have shed it
Like a cloak
Beneath which the light
Has always burned
Will always burn
Has always kept the darkness
In its dark

Olympus OM-2 by Patrick JenningsAug 26, 20183:36 pm

Pix to Words ~ Volume I :: Harmony in Word and Form

Pix to Words Magazine ~ Volume I

I promised myself way back in 2015, “I’ll publish a book based on Pix To Words if I reach 500 followers by the end of the year.” I did, but I didn’t, so now I finally am. Motivated to provide something people could take home from my gallery exhibit, Harmony in Word and Form, now showing at Gallery Bistro, and also something to share a bit of the gallery experience with those who can’t possibly make it to the gallery, I present Pix to Words Magazine ~ Volume I. The magazine features most of the photographs, poetry and stories appearing in the gallery exhibit, with a couple additions thrown in.

Poetry by Patrick JenningsAug 26, 201812:27 pm

Himalayan Foothills Sunrise, Kunjapuri Devi Temple, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India

Gratitude ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #150

The sun rises into a cloud-softened sky
Gentle foothills roll lazily to a distant horizon
A solo journey through an ungentle darkness ends
As I arrive in the light I realize
I am no longer alone, was never really alone
That no one arrives in such light
Entirely alone

I am struck by the depth of gratitude
Rising like a sun with my own inner light
For the guidance, support and encouragement
Offered by family and friends and mentors
And the generous kindness of strangers
Who have made of themselves
Friends

I stand here
In the light
With my platoon
Ready to take on
Anything

Thank You

People by Patrick JenningsAug 24, 20185:07 pm

Gallery Bistro, Port Moody, British Columbia, Patrick Jennings' show of photographs, poetry and stories is now on the walls.

The Unlikely Path

Photography came early. In high school. Late ‘70s. With my father’s Nikkormat and Mr. Haust’s photography class. There was a year as a “Photographic Illustration” undergrad at Rochester Institute of Technology, one of the best photography schools in the Americas, at the end of which my professor said, “Patrick, I don’t think you’re going to be a photographer.” In the sense that he meant, at the time, he was right. I’m not much of a “Photographic Illustrator”; I don’t make my living from photography. But, then, here am I.

Olympus OM-2 by Patrick JenningsAug 14, 20189:30 am

Harmony in Word and Form

I apologize, everyone, for being AWOL these past few weeks, and for not posting Pic and a Word Challenges. But I do have some exciting news.

All of my creative energy has been directed toward completing preparations to hang a gallery exhibit featuring photographs, stories and poems selected from Pix to Words. Very exciting! And a much larger task than I allowed myself to believe.

Lots of new stuff coming as a result. When things calm down after the opening (perhaps a bit during … stay tuned to the Facebook Pix to Words page if I can manage some live feed from the reception.)

Pic and a Word should return August 26th, the day after the Opening Reception.

Thanks for your patience!

And wish me luck. =)