Poem and Photo: Double Visions

As both poet and photographer, I frequently pause to contemplate a scene or object that becomes a catalyst for both a poem and a photograph.
from: Goodrum, David A. "Poet-photographer creates artistic double visions." Salem Statesman Journal, 11/07/2023, p. B06.

Published in Voices & Visions, the Mid-Valley Poetry Society 2024 Weekly Planner

"Ring the Bell Pepper"

Ode to the Last Pepper

                    Nothing of the love we give to things
                    remains uneaten for long.
                                  – John Sibley Williams

                    It has been suggested that I am a cannibal
                    to eat my models after a masterpiece.
                                   – Edward Weston

Vibrant yellow – not banana, not quite daffodil – and matured past
an early color change, the last of its kind at the farmer’s market
beckoned from a crowd of other passionate hues.

At home the knife’s sharp pressure meets crisp resistance,
through the firm skin and voluptuous curves captured
in Weston’s famous black and white “Pepper No. 30,”

and slices past thick walls, seeking the shrouded sight
of ribs attaching the pepper’s core to the hull,
pale membranes and cream interior pith. Beg for patience

and celebrate the wait of months to green, another to ripe. Praise
the four thick-walled lobes, proud stem, the succulent flesh,
the hint of citrus, even the inedible core, since it holds

the center sun cluster of bitter seeds, yellow
with light reflecting within the shell, fertile
promises for a future bounty of sweet fruit.

"Ode to the Last Pepper" published in The Banyan Review, Fall 2023

Self-Portrait as Sea (first section)

I should capture
     the churning sea

but at low water
     my gaze is affixed

    on sea foam bubbles
          trapped amid basalt rocks

     my alien form     reflecting
          in each curved mirror

"Self Portrait as Sea" published in The Banyan Review, Fall 2023
Hear David read "Self Portrait as Sea"

"The Sea Reflects You" published in Lighthouse Weekly, January 25, 2022

"Second Life of Photosynthesis" published on the cover of Cirque Journal, vol 12, no. 2, 2022

Letter of Introduction (second stanza)

A desiccated leaf draped
and frozen on the post,
I bare skeleton, remnants
of organs, soul.

"Letter of Introduction" published in Anacapa Review, vol 1, no. 6, 2023

"On Edge" published on the cover of Willows Wept Review, Spring 2022

Set in Concrete

Paw pads dark with age
emboss the cement sidewalk
Memory unleashed

"Set in Concrete" photo published on the cover of Cirque Journal, vol 14, no. 1, 2024.

"Set in Concrete" poem published in Cirque Journal, vol 14, no. 1, 2024, p. 26.