community poetry one picture at a time-- inviting poems to be published through the key, a positive local news publication.

an introduction to community poetry one picture at a time
by jennifer hetrick

people who know me probably realize there’s hardly much i could adore in this life more than poetry. with this in mind, as a writer and editor, i am grateful to understand that language is a powerful tool to get through to people. it is also carved into what’s creative in us. and our world is brimming with inspiration which is often missed because of how busy, stressed, and distracted we are.

in teaching poetry locally, i’ve learned just how valuable it can be to pair captivating photography with what’s bardic in our days. as a quick vocabulary lesson, “bard” means “poet,” so “bardic” is an adjective to describe all things poetry-related.

i love the eye-savvy lure of photography, too. it just makes sense to pair poetry with pictures as a practice (alliteration station maximum, yes!). so i am thrilled to introduce readers of the key to my concept of community poetry one picture at a time. i’m also happy to promote the healing-oriented aspects of this endeavor, as it is an automatic benefit to anyone who tests it out.

i launched this concept in summertime on my blog and facebook page. through it, i share one of my own locally taken photographs, and i welcome people of all ages, backgrounds, and places to write their own poem whisked into existence by this glimpsing. i publish all of the poems online, as i believe in the importance of all voices being heard as much as possible when art is created in this often messy-minded world of ours. having diversity across perspectives and language of varied voices in the art of words through eye-scenes is a great way to promote positives in life today.

readers are welcome to submit one original poem which they write. i will publish all poems on my blog and facebook page. the key will publish as many poems as feasibly fit into the layout for this new feature in each latest issue.

submitted poems can be written in any form or style.

include your poem’s title, your name, and your town of residence.

send your poems to poetrywithjenniferhetrick@yahoo.com or thekeyofberks@gmail.com.

the deadline is sunday, february 12, 2017.

to see all poems published online, visit—

blog: http://poetrywithjenniferhetrick.blogspot.com

facebook: poetry with jennifer hetrick

and here is the first poem sample to start this new endeavor, inspired by the picture above.

(this photograph stemmed from the boyertown borough)

the blur after wind
by jennifer hetrick

edges of cold keep

molecules in maps

across worn wood.

some of us follow

fences with our eyes

during the deep hull

of winter. we forget

that this wood had its

own stories before it

knew milling, that

since water carries

information*, this

ice knew memories

before it left sky

for my backyard.

*this is in reference to masaru emoto’s research which was based in japan. he died in 2014 but studied water crystals and wrote several books about his findings.

the spring eye-scene inspiration is three charming pigs chomping down at meal time but from a view away from their iconic little snouts. the photograph was taken at eckerton hill farm in rockland township.

we look forward to receiving your submissions.

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to see the original version of this feature in its digital format, besides also available in the community, in print, click here. this poetry content is on pages 6 and 7 of the winter 2017 issue. you will also see a list of the distribution sites of the publication across regional businesses in our area at the end of the pages. the key is published through the happiness project of reading but spans outside of berks county and is continually growing in its reach.