Asher and Fahim,
Thank you for your thoughtful and detailed responses. Pairing pictures and poems is new to me and I'm working though how I can execute it better. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond.
What do you mean by "freeform"? Is that lack of rhyme, rhythm, meter or even controlling ideas? Do you have a poem of his as an example of this kind of free form you are using?
By "freeform" I'm not referring to the poem's form, but the creative process. To me it means with little internal editing, letting the mind roam through the photo and concepts, and writing without evaluation. I'm usually more analytical, but wanted to be more open with this project. It occured to me that this so-called "freeform" approach is what I use to take pictures, so I should try it for writing as well.
But, why should the photograph need to transcend their subjects. It would seem rather a narrow view of things. Can't what we see things as valuable in their own right, just as we see them through the camera? Why the need to transcend at all?
I'm also a fan of "the thing itself" genre of photography. It's not either/or for me. But sometimes we want to go beyond sense objects and explore broader truths.
If I had published the photograph by itself, there may have been comments about subject, location, composition, etc., but that likely would been the extent of it. There would have been little suggestion of the nature of worship or of our spiritual limitations as souls in physical bodies.
I also enjoy metaphor, which was actually the essence of the project; how can a poem and picture act as door or window to something else?
I, myself was taken back by the white text on gray, as it's a little hard to read.
Any suggestions? I tried white, and the type is very clear, but the whole thing seems too stark. I like the warmth of the gray. Part of the issue is the jpeg compression. It looks fine in Illustrator and in print. Really not sure what to do about this and would welcome you thoughts on an alternative presentation. I know that on a blog or web site it works well if I use html type rather than type embedded in a jpeg.
Also, not understanding completely your reference to the Islamic call for prayers, I didn't know whether it had a meaning I liked or would despise as bigoted. So "freeform" has costs.
Certainly nothing against Islam. A wonderful faith, in my view. Especially Sufism.
That reference gets to the heart of the meaning of the poem for me. We worship the best we can with the limited capabilities we are given as human beings. Hands and feet, voice, mud and stone. Crude compared to what we can only imagine the Divine must be. Nonetheless, they are noble expressions of longing and love and devotion that arise from a hidden, primordial place within us ("dawn fragments of memory rising").
Let me assure you that lack of interest is only one possible reason for lack of response.
Thanks for that reminder. I know you're right.
I have an immediate interest in the pairing of photography with poetry.
Care to share any examples?
John