Bike Photos & Emily Dickinson’s Truth Can Blind poem (Lens-Artists DELICATE)

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Hello Readers,

The month of May continues to move on and I am still exploring Emily Dickinson’s poetry.

The lens-artists theme this week is DELICATE (here) and this reminded me of Emily’s poem about delivering TRUTH.

Sharing truth with someone – or grasping a truth for ourselves – can be a delicate matter.

Here is the poem:

Sometimes I use this poem when I teach adults about the time it takes to digest and grasp many things – especially truth! The other poem I frequently use in my teaching is “Hope is Like a Feather,” but that is for later this month.  With Emily’s TRUTH poem, I sometimes ask folks if they ever had a flashlight shining in their face – where it was so bright they could not see (because it was blinding). That is what Emily is talking about when she says, “truth must dazzle gradually” – because it can overwhelm and blind the outlook. We might get defensive or we simply reject the message because it seems absurd. However, truth CAN permeate; it takes time for truth to sink in, but depth of understanding can and does arrive. It might even take years – but please do not ever give up and think someone is NOT reachable – it might just take time, effort, strategy and a DELICATE delivery. Other times we might need an abrupt delivery – and then there are times when we might need to walk away because it is not our job to deliver the truth – even if we were going to tell it slant. Oh indeed this is a delicate manner – and please let me know if you have any insight on this topic. I made a tips sheet -but we are all still learning, etc?  (NOTE – the words good and moderately in the poem are not always included in the online versions of this poem; however, the original (here) had those words and so I added them in gray. 

Here are the BIKE photos for Lens-Artists #46:

 

Sue Judd has inspired me to be on the lookout for bikes to photograph. This bike stood out to me because the wheel shadow was ginormous. Is this sometimes how truth feels to someone – distorted – and not accurate?  It takes time to “see” and grasp certain things in life. Part of the time requirement is connected to a human strength. If we were gullible and believed everything too readily – we might not have anchored grounding. So be patient with yourself – and with other people – let them grow – let your delivery improve – and remember that humans see distortions and illusions (natural part of life) and we work at finding clarity. It takes time to “see” 🙂
Sometimes we need a bit of distance to see the full picture.
Sometimes we need to see an issue from many angles. In this image, the bike is seen from the sidewalk (left photo) and then from the street (right photo). The color of the bike is clearer from the street because the light is in back – but the shadow and wheel details are seen better when we face the light. Also, sometimes we might need to immerse ourselves into a topic to fully get the picture (which is shown with the bit of selfie in the photo to the right).
This photo reminded me, again, about how we need to examine different viewpoints in order to arrive at truth. Notice the green in the bike is not really seen in the top left photo – but from a different angle in the bottom photo –  with a different “slant” of light – we see the bike color, seat color, and basket details. The black and white photo (upper right) highlights other fresh details – like all those VERTICES! This ties into how Emily Dickinson noted that there is a process for displaying and discovering truth. The way we explain “lightning to the children” should be “eased with explanation kind” – So, my friend, it you have truth to deliver or discover –  Let us look at different angles –  let’s have grace with others (and with self) as we ponder delivery. Anita said it best: “May the brightness of the kindness you share this day brighten the day of another with kindness more to share.” (Now yes, I know… it is not always possible – but let us try to be kind as much as possible..right?) 

 

Here is my entry for City Sonnet:

Linked to City Sonnet’s May 18th, 2019 prompts: Blue Iris & Landscape. 

 

If you have any seasoned insights to share on this topic of truth sharing, please share in the comments below.

Or if there is a bike image that stood out – please let me know. 

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Care to join in with the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge?

Week 1 – Patti of https://pilotfishblog.com/

Week 2 – Ann-Christine/ Leya of https://lagottocattleya.wordpress.com/

Week 3 – Amy of https://shareandconnect.wordpress.com/

Week 4 – Tina of https://travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com/

Care to join in with CitySonnet prompts?

May Colors and Letters HERE

May Word Prompts HERE

 

Truth be told – I did not know my hubs would turn out to be such a good cook – ha

 

P R I O R H O U S E 

MAY 2019

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27 thoughts on “Bike Photos & Emily Dickinson’s Truth Can Blind poem (Lens-Artists DELICATE)”

  2. Wonder thoughts and slants how truth and perceptive truth can differ. Also love how you end with thoughts toward kindness. We should be anything in kind.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Hi Anita – thanks for the comment and you are so right – “our perceived truth” needs to be examined eh?
      and thanks for the reminder to try to always be kind….

      Like

  5. I would say it depends on the person on the receiving end and their ability to handle what you’re giving them. The last image is very beautiful and I like how you captured the shadows from the bike tire. I like to have fun with shadows sometimes. I took a photo at the Park last year where the long shadow I was casting made it appear as if I was a basketball player.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Linda – I have a stretched out shadow i took at the beach a while back – and shadows can be so fun.
      thanks for the feedback on the pictures and poem in this post – 🙂 – and the person on the receiving end is key….

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Last year when we had such a horrid Spring with day after day of rain and or gray skies (just the same as this year) I started calling the sunny days “good shadow days” and would make shadow pictures of the critters or myself when I could capture them as they always were good for a smile. In March of 2018, I was walking in the Park and it was a sunny day. Parker, the squirrel who is always by my heels like a faithful dog, or greeting me on the trail for peanuts, was munching contentedly beside me. I got our shadows together in one photo. I am tall and had a long storm coat on as it was cold. This is one of my favorite Park pictures in this header image: https://lindaschaubblog.net/2018/03/05/me-and-my-shadow-2/

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  6. I enjoyed Emily Dickinson’s poem and your explanation of it. I also agree with your tips for delivering truth. An interesting post. Thanks.

    Liked by 2 people

  7. I especially like the bike shadows. (edit)

    here are some indivuals in need of a delivery of truth. So now I will know how to proceed.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. well actually sometimes that is the “only” way to deliver certain truths – the ouch – the sting – and the offense is sometimes just going to happen – but I think it depends on the topic and the people – and you two have so many years together – ahhhh so nice

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Very insightful…and lovely bikes as well! I can understand your inspiration was Sue! Thank you for a delightful entry.

    Liked by 3 people

  10. Leya’s comment sums up this post so well. It seems “Truth” is not easy to deal with – to realize it and even to deliver it (as your “TIPS FOR DELIVERING TRUTH”). Realizing truth ans delivering it are not easy.

    Oh, how one can really tells for certain that one’s version of truth is really the truth – what is the real truth? Your bike picture is an interesting one. It depends on one’s perspective isn’t it? If you look at the color of the light at much closer scale, is it still truly green? Or if ask a bug (which can only perceive few colors) what would it say about the color (assuming it is actually on the bike directly)? On the other hand if you have an equipment that can analyze all wave lengths reflects from the bike what is the reading? Hmm. this goes on and on..

    Very nice post and intriguing..

    Liked by 1 person

    1. It does go on and on and I think your comment highlighted a bunch of new areas on my brain because you got me thinking –
      A lot
      And thanks for that YC

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Great point about limiting – and “attention blindness” is part of being human because we can only take in so much stimuli at once – hm – thanks for the nice comment

      Liked by 1 person

  12. (EN) I love your bicycles pictures. The two wheels in sequence and the childhood in the poem express very well the process. Thanks for sharing,Y😊
    (IT) Mi piacciono molto le tue foto di biciclette. Le due ruote in sequenza e l’infanzia nella poesia esprimono molto bene il processo. Grazie per la condivisione, Y😊

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Beautiful proverbial write with inspiring images. Indepth too! I believe that writings and reads of early civilizations were proverbial with influences and benefits of refinement, a positive impact on man’s behavior and interactions. Great share Prior!

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