Tag: artists at work

Poetry by Patrick JenningsOct 3, 20223:59 pm

Waiting, Taken from a moving taxi, Jakarta, Java, Indonesia

Waiting ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #330

In a moment of sizzle
Humming fan blades
And the thrum of traffic

She waited
For some tasty tidbit
I couldn’t make out from the taxi

She thought about yesterday
And tomorrow
Last week and next month

She thought about everything
But this moment
And the tasty thing sizzling

Or the next moment
When the tasty thing would mercilessly
Burn her tongue oh so deliciously

But…

Who’s to say any of this is true?
I was just a photographer living in the frame
Capturing serendipitous moments from a moving taxi

And now I’m just a poet
Listening to the words as they come
Trying to give them their moment

So all of it is fiction
Or maybe some of it is the truth
Though, hopefully

I’ve created something
Which at least
Speaks truly

Even if
It only speaks truly
About the act of creation

Or maybe, the story
Is just saying something truthful
About the creator

Poetry by Patrick JenningsSep 30, 20226:00 pm

Little Northern Window, North Window Arch, Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, United States of America

North Light

The little window
In the northern wall
Through which the lovely light falls
When the drapes aren’t closed

Poetry by Patrick JenningsSep 26, 20229:18 pm

Billowing Grasses, Gold Beach, Oregon, United States of America

Billowing ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #329

I cut a path through the long grass billowing
Well off the trail the others had tread
And composed there a scene
Few travellers would see

Footfalls through the dunes
Skies grey as the sand
And blackened monoliths
Tossed about like stones
From a small child’s hand

There, in the buffeting wind
Amidst the storm-sodden grass
Shielding the lens
From the rain and debris
I gathered dim light
Small hope had I
This photo could be…

Worth soggy shoes
And cold, wetted socks
My pants would drip water
Later
When twisted in knots

First, back to the car
All shivering raw
Engine now running
With hands to the heater
Hoping to thaw

Now months and months later
At home nice and warm
Editing photos I took in a storm
To my delight I discover
They came out… alright

Poetry by Patrick JenningsSep 17, 20222:23 pm

Out of the Corner of My Eye

Sometimes
I feel a presence
Out of the corner of my eye

Some one
Some thing

Looking out for me and mine

I turn to look
But it’s never there

But there enough to know
The universe is benevolent
Even if not all its children are

Poetry by Patrick JenningsAug 26, 202211:59 pm

Sunrise Over Valley of the Gods, From Moki Dugway, Cedar Mesa, Utah, United States of America

Sunrise Sojourn

I wake
Into darkness
Scramble out of the tent
Enough time to boil water

Coffee
Cereal
Almond milk

The breakfast of
Car camping
Photographers

Pre-dawn
On the horizon
Time to go

Camera bag
Tripod
Fresh brew in the travel mug

On the way
Not far from the campground
Dawn demands a stop
Unexpected glory
In a few hurried frames

Then to the switchbacks
Moki Dugway
Rising twelve hundred feet
Straight up Cedar Mesa

From the top
With the wide zoom
And the fisheye
Then, this one here
On the middle zoom
Expected glory

Deep sigh of success
And anticipation
For the work which takes
A latent image of RAW bits
To the finished photograph
Here

Poetry by Patrick JenningsAug 13, 20229:10 pm

The Depth of Time, Mukuntuweap, Zion National Park, Utah, United States of America

Mother Nature: Earth’s Artist in Residence

Beauty sculpted
With the softest tools
The utmost patience

Beheld by a mind
For a fleeting moment

Recorded for a moment more

While the sculptor
Chips away

Her pieces ever
Works in progress
Not a one complete

Poetry by Patrick JenningsJul 23, 20227:00 am

Bicyclist Taking a Break, Jakarta, Java, Indonesia

Subject Unknowing

I wonder if I’ve ever been
The subject of someone’s
Best photograph of the day
But never found out

Like this fellow here
On the third shot of eleven
Who never looked up

So never saw the camera
Pointed out the taxi window

Capturing this delightful moment

Poetry by Patrick JenningsJul 21, 20227:00 am

Splashes and Blur, Jakarta, Java, Indonesia

Sharpness is a Bourgeois Concept

Colours and edges
Splashes and blur
Nothing to see

But for the eyes
A turn of a head

And just enough detail

This would be a discard
X’d out on a contact sheet

But for those eyes
Because now I want to know
What she sees

Poetry by Patrick JenningsJun 11, 20229:13 pm

Moments in the Park

In a public square
Filled with food, and music, and play
I scan for moments

A click here
A click there
Another and another

Every picture tells so many stories

Though some obscured
And some unfocussed
While others extend
Beyond the bounds of framing

And when I burrow in
Ever more intimate moments
To be found

Until…

I am caught

Poetry by Patrick JenningsDec 23, 20214:53 pm

Hostile Beauty, California SR 136, Keeler, California, Unied States of America

To find their meaning

I set down the words
But do not own their meaning
Any more than I control the wind
The sun
Or the rain

I release them
Into the world
Let the prevailing winds
Take them where they may
Perhaps to find the meaning
They have for you