When words and images come together

Although I can’t write for nuts, I’ve always loved poetry, in fact I think photographs are a lot like poems; they hold so much meaning in an instant. Here’s one I’ve found from one of my web haunts, which in turn is taken from Poetry Foundation, a great site with lots of poetry resources:

Children of the Ghetto

Photograph by Henryk Ross
Poem by George Szirtes

Love, we were young once, and ran races
over rough ground in our best shiny shoes,
we kicked at stones, we fell over, pulled faces.

Our knees were filthy with our secret places,
with rituals and ranks, with strategy and ruse.
Love, we were young once and ran races

to determine the most rudimentary of graces
such as strength and speed and the ability to bruise.
We kicked at stones, we fell over, pulled faces,

and doing so left no permanent traces
because we fought and fell only to confuse
love. We were young. Once we ran races

in ghettos, in camps, in the dismal spaces
of the imagination reserved for Jews.
We kicked at stones, we fell over, pulled faces

at elastic braces, shoelaces, empty packing cases
as if they were the expressions we could choose.
Love, we were young once, and ran races.
We kicked at stones, we fell over, we pulled faces.