Library of Congress Poetry: Prisoners of Frozen Time

(I’m exploring poetry through images by tapping into the extensive collection of the Library of Congress on Flickr. There are some amazing images shared with the public and more coming every month or two, it seems. What can inspire you? Be sure to cite where you got the image from. Use Alan Levine’s Flickr Attribution tool and your life is a breeze.)


flickr photo shared by The Library of Congress with no copyright restriction (Flickr Commons)

This waiting
is killing me.

Just knowing
something will happen,

And here we are,
prisoners of frozen time.

Process Notes: This image is from a collection of “stereo images” from the Civil War. I’m not sure exactly what that is but I think it is when you put the image into a pair of old-time 3d glasses, and the juxtaposition of both left and right gives you a 3d feel. I was struck by this picture — of the three Southern soldiers as prisoners, just waiting. And they will wait forever, frozen in this mirrored moment.

Peace (takes its toll)
Kevin

6 Comments
  1. mirrored in a momemt
    prisoners of frozen time
    find rest in knowing
    something will happen.

    A little found poem in your post. Tit for tat.

  2. Viewer Take Note:

    stereopticon treasure,
    antiquated 3D image maker
    holding memories locked in time.

    I own the real stereopticon with images frozen in time. Thanks for pairing poetry with an image from the past. We all build on Mary Lee’s BYGONES’ Collection!

  3. I remember looking through one of those at musty cardboard photos. My grandparents had one AND a bunch of pictures. I wonder where that stuff went…

    “prisoners of frozen time” yes, indeed-y.

    Interesting to imagine how people would have used a photo like this. And why…

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