A Post about a Podcast about a Poem about a Painting

There are a few things in life that I’ve often wanted to like and haven’t quite managed to get there.

Coffee for example. I’ve never liked it. From a health perspective I’m glad that I don’t, but it seems like a whole cultural phenomenon that I don’t get to be part of.

Opera. Honestly I’m probably not going to try too hard, sorry opera fans.

Poetry. It’s been a search, but I’m starting to understand the power and scope of poetry. And it’s connections with photography. It doesn’t try to explain everything, it tries to make you think, it can challenge and show beauty and ask questions. In some ways it’s limited in it’s scope and scale, but in some ways that becomes it’s power.

Frank Skinner, an English comedian, hosts an excellent podcast exploring some great poems that he has particularly connected with. His enthusiasm is infectious. And his latest episode about a poem by Peter Riley is full of insight, and so much of it is about creativity and what really matters.

To go for the high note and either “crack or cruise”. To take that risk, to be willing to either fail or to make something marvelous. And that this is success, when we do cruise, when it works, when it feels effortless. Regardless of the audience, regardless of the response.

And that the painting, and the poem, can extend that moment of success for eternity. Isn’t that the power of the photographer too, not to freeze time exactly but to allow that moment to live long, to reach out into time and still exist beyond more than memory.

Thanks for the podcast Frank, and for your wonderful words Peter Riley.