Inspiration for my photography comes from all types of media and not just the visual arts. Great literature and music is able to conjure those images in our minds eye and so it can become ‘visual’ in some way. I’ve always been a fan of writing and poetry for that ability to create images in my head but poetry in particular has sometimes been challenging for me because I find myself unsure of my interpretation and if it’s too difficult to even grasp a meaning, I’m slightly ashamed to say I just give up on it. It’s good to have a guiding hand to help through the difficult bits and offer thoughts on the piece and I’ve found Frank Skinner’s Poetry Podcast to be just about perfect for me. Frank reads through one or more poems by a different poet (or cohort) each week and interprets them for the listener, often picking out phrases that he loves and throwing in the odd anecdote that helps to give a broader understanding of the meaning. As a result, I’m able to enjoy the poems because I’ve had that help to get me through the challenging bits and through to the end.
I particularly enjoyed this episode about several pieces from Clare Pollard which have some great descriptions that create images and atmosphere in abundance. It’s always a good challenge to have a brief to work a set of images around and a poem is a great starting point so perhaps I’ll have to pay a visit to Zennor and Whitby one day.
Here’s a Spotify link but the podcast is available on all your usual platforms.
Clare Pollard - Frank Skinner's Poetry Podcast | Podcast on Spotify