Ideas for Starting Historical Photograph Poems/Monologue

These are suggestions only!

Don’t forget to use concrete details in your writing and exploded images or figurative language: images/similes/metaphors/hyperbole/personification etc.

· What's boiling just beneath the surface? This means write about what’s actually going on for your character that moment that second in the photo. In the first person let your character speak back to the camera.

· Observatory Poem: Use your haiku writing skills to create detailed images that depict exactly what you see in the photo. Foreground. Background. Notice every detail. A wrinkle, scar, scratch, cufflink, bathing suit fringe, etc.

· Letter Poem: Have your character write a letter to someone significant in their life. Just as, Ophelia was able to share her story with her teacher Constance.

· Dream Poem: Let your character vividly describe a dream in their life.

· Historical Witness: Has your character witnessed an important historical event in their life? Let your character describe what they saw, felt, remember about a specific date. Date this poem.

· Secret Poem: Have your character make a confession. Finish the sentence: No one knows…or if they have a silenced history finish this sentence: Silence is like a…