Kate, thanks for the mini writing assignment and virtual field trip. I enjoyed visiting the Met. I have hands on my mind lately, so I stopped at this picture of a cast of Abraham Lincoln’s hand.
What’s in the hand of A. Lincoln?
a bucket handle carrying family food,
an ax splitting rails to make fences,
a ring–should he or shouldn’t he? Love is eternal,
a disarray of papers in a stovepipe hat,
the cold hands of Willie and Eddie, too soon gone,
a farewell speech from Springfield before his inaugural journey,
a pen promising freedom for the slaves in the south,
a needle and thread to stitch together a torn up nation.
“Abraham Lincoln” photo by Cliff, shared with CC BY 2.0 license on Flickr.
Denise, is this image from part of your vacation?
I love how you have woven the parts of Lincoln’s life into the possibilites carried in his hand. I could imagine and feel each one. The last line is so powerful.
I’m behind a week due to end of year requirements and have classes this week. I’ll try to catch up.
I did notice this week talks of critique groups. How many of our TFotoFri friends are in the Teachers Write project? Maybe enough for a writers group?
That would be awesome to start a writer’s critique group. We’ll have to figure out who is writing. I don’t think there are too many of us, but we have two at least!
The photo is from Cliff on Flickr. The prompt was to take a picture from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That’s where I found his hand originally.
Thanks, Sheri!
Denise
Your title really captured my attention and the photo is intriguing. I liked your possibilities and felt showed the many roles A.L. had during his life. The last line is the kicker though.
I could see extending this to asking students to chose a main character from a book and imagine he/she holding something in his/her hand; then, write a free verse poem imagining the possibilities that reveal various aspects of the character. Thanks for the inspiration.