SESSION 7 — The Art of Perspective
Photo by Anika Huizinga on Unsplash
Discussion:
Perspective is the lens through which we view reality. And as our perspectives shift, expand or zero in, so does our experience and understanding of the world.
Every type of art uses this truth to convey a feeling, a scene or a story. The artist zooms in on the petals of a flower or paints the vast night sky. The composer creates a sweeping symphony of sound or an aria for one solitary voice. Poets do the same, writing from perspectives of animals, forces of nature, and people besides themselves.
Who do you think is the speaker in this poem? How does the speaker’s tone shift throughout the poem? Does it remain the same, or does it crack in certain places? And how does this shape or affect your experience of the poem?
If the poem were written from another perspective—the mother or the girl at the corner shop—how would the tone, message and even the details of the scenes change?
Ruth Osman is a Guyanese singer, songwriter and poet based in Trinidad and Tobago. Her debut poetry collection, All Made of Longing, won the Best First Poetry Collection award at the 2023 Guyana Prize for Literature and placed second for Best Poetry Collection overall.
Some Advice
You can't be weak
if you want to survive these streets.
That little boy whose tears
stained Aunt Merle’s white linen tablecloth—
swallow him quick, rubber slippers and all!
Even if you choke,
even if it takes White Oak
to wash him down.
And that young thing at the corner shop
who weighs you
like the half-pound cheese you came to buy,
and finding you wanting, rolls her eyes—
show her who is man in the middle
of the track's dark line.
Doh mind that your mother's voice
crawls through the window,
asking where you been so long,
why you left her to that bastard's ways.
Doh mind that the bed holds you
soft against its belly,
folds you into itself—
like a womb,
like a grave.
Writing Prompt
Write a poem where one version of yourself speaks to another.
What does the older self say to the younger?
What does the hardened self say to the vulnerable self?
What does the self today say to the self that still haunts them?
What does the future self say to the present self?
If you’d like to share your new creation with us, click below. We’d love to read your work!