Creating the World’s First Poetograph: The Birth of ‘Rainfalls’ and the Art of Poetography

Thoughts and musings about process for an art form that doesn’t exist yet.

Image by Craig Boehman

I began work on my first poetograph earlier this morning. When I showed the sonnet to my wife, she commented that the couplet at the end wasn’t really up to snuff. I agreed. Not only did I think it wasn’t as strong as it could have been, but I also thought that it would be difficult to shoot. Not that I needed a literal pictorial of both lines but I wanted to stick to a close interpretation for the sake of demonstrating how I went about writing and creating the poetograph.

In case you’re chiming in late, read about the introduction of poetography here:
Introducing Poetography: A New Art Form Blending Poetry and Photography

This brought up the discussion about rewriting and in particular, the Seventh Tenant that has to do with iterations.

Iterative Process
Creating impactful Poetography is often an iterative process. The poetographer must be willing to revisit and refine their poems and photographs until the combination perfectly encapsulates the intended message and emotion. This iterative approach ensures the highest quality of artistic expression, allowing for continuous improvement and deeper exploration of the themes and narratives.

This sparks the interesting concept that maybe poetographs and poetography in general could be about a constant state of rewriting and reshooting images, a process that can, if preferable, even be a lifelong pursuit. Imagine a poetograph that is never really finished, if the poetographer so desired. This could be another distinguishing wedge between poetry and poetography; where the poem is usually finished upon publication, the poetograph can be further improved upon on a whim, in words and/or images.

Here is the poem so far, which I do plan on improving. I’m just unsure whether I’ll be influenced by images that I soon take or if I simply sit down and rework the words at my computer.

Rainwaters (a poetograph)

Umbrellas dare faces to emerge and shine.
Rainwaters dubstep to Gravity’s call.
The sins of Mumbai murky and malign,
Survive as dust in the chaiwala’s stall.

Boots in puddles, a paddywhack attack!
A splish and a splash, we all take a bath!
Trains’ need for speed like Purgatory’s child.
Rickshawalas bend a heavenly path.

Traffic oh Traffic, you devilish fiend!
You thrive on rainwaters murky and foul.
Time kills our patience because you are King.
We serve as your loyal, water-soaked towel.

The rainwaters wet the axis of June.
By September’s end, they leave us too soon.

The process of creating and understanding a new art form is daunting. Claiming to have invented a new genre, even if similar processes exist, feels almost absurd. Yet, I love the experimental nature and doing it from my own website, my safe space. Only two people know about this, aside from a few anonymous followers perhaps. The excitement is palpable! It feels like breaking new ground, akin to inventing the atomic bomb (hyperbole, admittedly). I just hope I can pull it off and create something I can stand behind and love doing.

Stay tuned for my next installment, which I hope will be a set of 14 images to complete the poetograph.