Haiku Frames

A couple of months ago I was preparing a set of four images as a single print and composition. The work seemed to call for something more than just the images and some text providing the title and location. As I allowed the images to settle and to reflect on them, a phrase came to mind. The images reminded me of the sounds that filled the air from the many birds in the photos and I thought “birds chatting away.” From there I developed the following haiku:

Sunset come and gone
  Evening falls light lingers still 
    Birds chatting away

The poem completed the composition and I posted the photos and poem as a set on Instagram and here: https://stephenkifer.art/2020/05/post-0003-2020-04-birdsatdusk.html

Since then I have posted three more photos to Instagram with an accompanying haiku. I am not sure if any of them really ‘works’ but I have found that it is great way to continue my journey in a way that combines two of my interests: writing, especially poetry, and artwork, especially photography and seems to fit well with the subtitle on my website:

A journey through art and life with a camera…

Today makes the fourth week in a row (and fifth overall) that I have posted a photo with a haiku. The last three I have referred to as ‘Haiku Frames’. They combine an uncropped film photograph with a haiku inspired by the photo and my memories of taking the photo.

I’m not sure where in the end this will end, but at the moment I am committing myself to posting a ‘Haiku Frame’ every Sunday. It actually seems very consistent and reflective of my stated idea of ‘a journey through art and life…’. I may adjust the details as the journey progresses, but a photo and a poem is the goal for each week.

This week’s addition:

A pair of beauties  
  Life enduring everywhere
    Together with hope

Around the House, Spotsylvania County, Virginia; March 2020