Tell us about a time you couldn’t quite get your words or images to express what you wanted to express. What do you think the barrier was? For bonus points, try again.  Photographers, artists, poets: show us EXPRESSION.

I’ve never been known to be lost for words. I can express myself any time, without thought or consideration.  It might not be correct or coherent, but there’s plenty of words!

For my photos, it’s a matter of choosing images to fit a theme, but I almost never take pictures with an idea in mind (unless it’s a photo of a door)

I do agonise over poetry. It  can take years to complete a piece. A poem can only be abandoned… never perfected.  The art of haiku is probably the closest to reaching perfection. The verse is short and they come in sets.

Here’s a poem (imperfect)  and a few photos to go with it. I wrote the verse in my head almost as I took the pictures, rare for me.  I’m editing the poem even now, but I have to stop and hit ‘publish’.

Running Lines.

The tide is a tireless hunter
It never stops just turns
Denying us security
Keeping its arcane times.
It beaches all our floating schemes
Or drowns them in the wash,
Makes shoal our deepest harbours
Makes seas of our safest docks.

But I have got the measure
Against the shifting times,
My running line is set here
My boat is not becalmed.
It does not please my aching back
Can shred skin from my hands,
But this tide cannot lock me in
Or leave me on this sand.
My boat is mine to take me
Away to where I’m going,
Free to make my travels,
Free to bring me home.

Hawkesbury River, NSW, Australia.