Writing Prompt: What’s going on in this picture?

When I was a freshman in high school, my English class hosted a student teacher for a few weeks. She was a young, very pretty woman with fair skin and that kind of brown hair that can be called ‘mousy’, but might actually be closer to the color of tea and milk. One day, she asked us to write a Picture Poem. The idea was to find an image from a magazine that resonated with us, and to use that image to help us create a poem.  

I don’t remember the poem I ended up writing for this assignment, but I do remember the picture I chose. In it, a woman with red hair sat on a wooden bench. The sun was shining down on her, and she was looking away from the camera. I think I wrote something about love (all my poems were about love at that time because like many teenaged girls, I had grand romantic, if not very accurate, ideas about it).

The other thing I remember is this: That young, pretty, mousy haired student teacher praised my poem. In fact, she shared it with the class. It was the first time a piece of my writing had been singled out, and looking back, I think it was the moment I realized how much I loved to write, that writing connected me to a deep part of my soul.

So here’s your writing prompt: Flip through a magazine or scan the internet, looking at interesting pictures. The website Unsplash has some amazing photos! Then, study the picture and ask yourself: What do I imagine is going on here? What story lives behind this snapshot in time?

You can go deep, and write a whole story. You can be brief but tender, and write a simple one stanza poem. You could write a letter to the person in the picture. The format is up to you.

My final idea for you is this: Think about the people who have encouraged you to write. Your devoted readers. Your cheerleaders. Those teachers who told you that you had a gift. And thank them. Thank them for seeing you as a Writer.

My grandfather was a voracious cheerleader of my own writing life. Every time I saw him, he would ask if I was writing. I have an old birthday card from him that’s taped to the front of the notebook that holds the novel I am currently writing. And all it says is this, in large, dramatic letters: “Write! Write! Write! Ya! Write!”

So I do. I will. For myself. For my soul. And because my grandfather would have wanted me to.

Thanks for reading.

Beth