How To Write A Poem

A great image can have the power to restore faith and heal. As I grow older, it’s what I would like my photography to do. Maybe when I'm really old and decrepit I'll get there. Sigh. But I think language, in the right hands, is infinitely more powerful than imagery. Someone once wrote that a photograph is worth a thousand words. But I think it’s the other way around. A great poem is worth an ocean of imagery. And this poem, “How To Write A Poem” by John Claxton of Clark Street Bridge is an example of that - at least it is for me. When I heard it for the first time last week, it made me want to drop my camera forever, as I felt there was no way my pixels could compete against the beauty of these words. It reminded me of what Seamus Heaney, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, once said - that poetry can be a powerful counterweight to the evil in the world. I love that.