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A World Written by Photography

You’ll never view the world with such innocence until you see the northern lights. 

You’ll watch the oceans collide with the sky, 

the waves kiss the stars. 

A warm glow will fill the void of the darkness, 

and sweet harmonies will surround you in the midst of silence. 

The blues and the greens will swallow the world, 

and you’ll be left in an inescapable dream.


Incidental, 

chaotic,

beautiful,

madness. 


Absolute madness. 

Incredible space.


You’ll look up to galaxies that look down upon you,

sympathetic, but superior.

Endless revolutions of objects in circles and ellipses,

without you in the center. 

You’ll bask in the freedom of this universe, 

something that your youniverse never provided you.


Reality is unforgiving, 

and you leave this dream untouched. 

You sit with your legs crossed. 

Hair pinned.

Sleek polish canvasing your nails to perfection. 


You miss the blissful sound of this world.


This world,

we see through the eyes of a child.

This world,

we blind ourselves to.

_________________________________________________


I've never seen the northern lights. I've only seen it through photos, videos, countless forms of media—but never in real life. I wrote this poem with all the knowledge and experience that only images have provided me, and it is for this reason that I dream of seeing them with my own eyes. Photography is a beautiful thing that many of us have generalized to be falsified, especially in today's digital takeover. Earlier in the school year, I wrote a blog post criticizing photos, and I've come to realize that it's when we replace them with the human eye that it becomes an issue. When images provide us a touch of reality as an inspiration, it serves its purpose. The ignorant "you" I refer to in this poem is consumed in these artificial surrogates when reality is just a glance away. I cannot begin to express my gratitude for the photos that have provided me a glimpse into the northern lights. What is currently unreachable by my own eyes is satisfied through a picture. 

Comments

  1. Aleezay AhmadApril 28, 2024 at 10:50 AM

    Your poem was beautiful! Your word choice throughout this whole post was very nice, such as "youniverse" and "artificial surrogates". I, too, would love to see the northern lights one day, and I agree that claiming that all photos are misleading and falsified is ignorant and a sweeping generalization.

    ReplyDelete
  2. bismaad kaurApril 28, 2024 at 12:06 PM

    It was such a cool idea to write this in a poetic format! I like the way you utilized a ton of literary devices throughout the poem. I also really love how you talked about how your perception of photos has changed since the beginning of the year.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SLZApril 28, 2024 at 8:37 PM

    Poem really good, brain blank, you short, you smart, very poetic poem, true poetry, point true, pictures important, pictures informational, pictures eye opening, you short, you no brain because too short to fit brain in small cute head, good bye

    ReplyDelete

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