Seven Day Poetry Challenge. Day 1. We three kings. Original photography. Poetry.

Three.
Wise men.
Bring treasures.
But what can be given?
To the one who already has everything.
The cosmos provides: A gesture of humble honouring. ~Ally.

I've been invited by Isabel @nolasco to participate in @dejan.vuckovic's Seven Day Poetry Challenge.

Although I wouldn't usually categorise any of my Steemit articles as 'Poetry' I really appreciate being given this opportunity to explore my humble writings. And acknowledging that nothing happens by chance, I have a growing feeling that contributing to this challenge may help to extend my all too questionable talents in this field.

The rules are simple:

Write one poem every day for 7 days.
Use the tag: #poetrychallenge as one of your 5 tags.
Nominate a different person every day to join you in the challenge.

A little about my 'poems.'

My 'poems' are only ever a few short lines: Developed freeing when I'm sharing one of my photographs: Images from nature or images of my artworks.

Being a right-brained and slightly dyslectic artist, words sometimes come to me that may not be in the dictionary ~ Or a word comes that I've heard somewhere, but don't know exactly what it means or its context. I enjoy finding out though and in the uncovering, often discover other words that I respond to ~ Or relate more to what I'm trying to say.

Left brain analysis.

I love single words and short phrases.
I love to interrupt a phrase so it can lose its original meaning and take on another.
I love to let part of a phrase run onto the next line. And link it with another thought.

Relationships with images and words.

When you look at the accompanying words to any of my 'poems' they may seem to be so obviously simplistic. However, I've grown to love the obvious as much as the obscure ~ Which more often than not my 'poems' tend to be.

Although I gravitate towards minimalism in imagery, I often take my pieces to the point of collapse. The reductive process may or may not work but I explore and experiment. The images may never be published but I will have learnt something for future work.

And so it is with words as I shape them.

I love both organic and geometric shapes. And I love massaging words and phrases so that they become contained within a shape.

I also love layering and transparency in imagery. In my following Seven Day Poetry Challenge articles, I'll expand on how shapes and space, layering and transparency influence my writing as well.

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About 'We three kings.'

I described a little about the creation of the background of this ephemeral ice work as my contribution to @ilovedietcoke's Ten Days of Reflection Challenge.

Elements of nature gently touching or being touched by water, create tiny but exquisite reflections. ~Ally.

It was the week before Christmas 2016. I wanted to tune into the 'Spirit of Christmas.'

And as I was positioning the seed pods on to the ice, I heard the refrain:

We three kings of orient are:
Bearing gifts we traverse afar:
Field and fountain, moor and mountain:
Following yonder star.

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The seed pods became not exactly camels, but three little ships, each bearing their gift.

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And now: Once again: The 'poem:'

Three.
Wise men.
Bring treasures.
But what can be given?
To the one who already has everything.
The cosmos provides: A gesture of humble honouring. ~Ally.

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If you're not familiar with this most loved Christmas Carol, you might like to watch this version of 'We three kings' by The Mediaeval Baebes.

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Until now most of the Steemians I have connected with are visual artists and photographers. Many are multi-talented though, and so I'm curious to see how they too may bring words together into a 'poem.'

So I'd like to nominate a beautiful photographer and lover of Nature's Beauty: @sunscape as my first participant.

Thanks so much Dejan @dejan.vuckovic for initiating the Seven Day Poetry Challenge and a heart felt thanks to Isabel @nolasco for nominating me.

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Art and Photography: ©Alison Lee Cousland.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 Mark II.
Processing: Lightroom.

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About my work.

Relatively small assemblages or arrangements are constructed from flowers, weeds and plants, combined with other natural materials that I find in the local bushland or surrounding urban streets.

A fuller description is in my introductory article: The Heart of Immortality.

If you have any questions about my work or would like to leave me a comment, I'd love to hear from you.