The photography/poetry task was on one day to go for a contemplative walk and take several photos of things that attracted attention or curiosity. Then to review the photos and journal about what they revealed or suggested. That in itself was an interesting and fruitful experience. But then... the second day we were to choose seven key word from the previous day's journalling and write each on on a slip of paper, fold them up and shuffle them. Picking one at random, incorporate that word into a line of poetry... then pick a second word (without being able to see what you are picking) and incorporate that word into the second line... etc for the seven words, seven line poem. Here is what emerged for me with just one of the photos from the previous day:
Cool yourself my friend
in the shade of the gnarled old tree
let all the scattered thoughts converge
in its sheltering shadow
peace depends on opening
to the still point…
from there
new paths diverge
(The seven words were: cool, gnarled, converge, shadow, depends, point, diverge.)
