So Day 1 of the A to Z Challenge… Using a random number generator, this is the prompt I’m using today:

“Browse through a collection of photographs in a book or online (such as the New York Times or the Library of Congress) and choose an image that you find arresting. Use the title of the photograph (if it has none, write one for it first) as the title and the starting point for a poem.”

This prompt, I believe, is from the Poets & Writers website from like five years ago. (I’ve been collecting prompts for a while.)

After poking through the History of Photography Archive’s photo collections on Flickr, I picked “Alexander Keighley – Children on a Picnic, ca. 1890” (Copyright All rights reserved by The Patrick Montgomery Collection) (which is why the photo isn’t in the post).

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And now for the first crack at a poem — please, keep expectations low.

Alexander Keighley – Children on a Picnic, ca. 1890

Together we sit
In short pants
And pinafores,

Our rough, bare feet
Dirty from play
And warm from the sun.

Darkness rests beyond us
Darkness is below us
But here, right here,

We sit in the light,
And share one last piece
Of sweet cake.

Soon, we will be ready
To play and toss and tumble
All again.