A good poem will make you feel something when you read it.
A great poem will make you feel and continue to stick with you long after you’ve read it.
A fantastic poem will make you feel, stick with you, and make you say – “Damn, I wish I wrote that.”
But now I want to know your opinion: is it necessary to include an image with a poem?
When a poem is inspired by an image, I understand the importance of including it or if your poem inspires you to create a drawing.
But what if your poem is just a poem?
WordPress says “add images”! Wow your reader. And I know from experience in the realm of Marketing that if you are going to paste a whole lot of content on the web, you better vary it with some fancy, colorful pictures to break the monotony and keep the interest of your reader.
But is the old razzle-dazzle necessary?
I went through a brief phase of adding images, well doodles really, to some of my pieces. (See Waiting for Time, One Tear, Bloom, Love is). I sketch, I draw, I paint – but not enough to include something unique and related for each and every piece of poetry I write. I do not feel the need to include other instances of my handiwork just to insert something else on the page. I also don’t want to go spending money at Thinkstock or download from royalty free websites just for extra show. I feel like I’m not doing my poetry a service by buying the art of someone else or displaying some random xyz image from Bing. I would love to showcase images and artworks of others, but only if their work inspired the piece of poetry (and I had their permission, of course).
But enough about my point-of-view. As a reader, what’s your opinion on this whole idea of jazzing up a poem with images?
Many thanks for your time and input.
Sincerely,
Lori
Sincerely, Lori 