Portrait Poem [1]
Artist B. A. Van Sise’s photo series Children of Grass—featured in “The Written Image [3]” in the March/April 2017 issue [4] of Poets & Writers Magazine—consists of portraits of American poets who have been influenced by Walt Whitman, with each photograph based on a poem. Browse through some of Van Sise’s portraits [5] or select any other poet portrait of your choice, and taking a reverse approach to Van Sise’s project, write a poem based on the image. How does the language, tone, and rhythm in your poem relate to the composition, props, and background of the portrait?