“Tell it slant,”
the poet wrote.
My camera heard
the cryptic quote
and ever since
has suffered no guilt
to record the world
in vertigo’d tilt.
But perhaps this is poet’s
wisdom elemental:
truth is best known
in bits incremental.
And maybe the camera
senses a duty
to say same applies
to earth’s transient beauty.
Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
with explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind —
— Emily Dickinson
My belated tribute to Poetry Month and Earth Day.
Also my argument that it’s not my fault when my photos are cattywampus; it’s my camera in cahoots with Emily Dickinson.
And, yes, dear reader, I sense the irony: Truth is stuck in this country’s throat right now. Is Emily’s notion of slowly revealed Truth the same as truth pried out like an abscessed tooth? (I guess I can’t help rhyming.)
Oddments 
April 27, 2024 at 4:01 pm
Slanted, straight, sideways or upside down, this is a great picture capturing the reflection in the water. Maureen, I do believe you and Emily would have been close friends, and would have compared notes.
Your poem in perfect. As always, your words reflect the photo totally. I do appreciate the time and thought it must take to marry those two up, and you certainly do a grand job.
Hope you have a very enjoyable weekend. Temperatures here have finally warmed up and a couple of my perennials that I thought I lost are start to poke through! Yaaaayyyy!
Hey! If you have some spare time on your hands, you can approve this comment! 🤣😂😳🥴😵💫
Ginger🦋
April 27, 2024 at 4:11 pm
Yes, approving your comments has become my new hobby! And a happy one. Thanks for your words, Ginger, The reflection in the pond was lovely, but my camera managed to slant it — all by itself, of course. I’d love to have known Emily; I admire her poetry. When you say that your temps are warming up, I’m not sure that says a lot since your last weather report was something like 20 degrees! But if those brave little plants are poking through, then that’s warming up for sure! Yaaaayyyy indeed!
April 27, 2024 at 7:47 pm
Congrats to my only friend who writes poetry and does it well. 👏👏 I worry about nouns and verbs let alone trying to write poetry. As for photos that are not straight, I can certainly appreciate that issue because I do it a lot. 🙂
April 27, 2024 at 8:20 pm
Thanks, Judy! You know the problem is in our cameras and not in us, right?
April 27, 2024 at 11:07 pm
You know what’s prettier than a photo with a reflection? Just the reflection–like your photo. So pretty, Maureen. People have a problem with your photo slant? Tell them it’s called a Dutch Angle. And you meant to do that. 😉📷
April 28, 2024 at 12:01 am
I like that: it was deliberate! OK, so I had to look up Dutch Angle, and wasn’t Google funny? It printed the info at a Dutch Angle. Who knew Google had a sense of humor? As for that reflection, indeed it was pretty. Even cockeyed it was pretty. Thanks, Lois!
April 28, 2024 at 2:45 pm
A great poem. A lovely reflection photograph.
April 28, 2024 at 2:56 pm
Thank you, Robbie! Some days the pond outdoes itself!
April 28, 2024 at 7:42 pm
🌹
April 28, 2024 at 5:20 pm
I find reflections beautiful and mysterious. And Emily is always worth a salute. (K)
April 28, 2024 at 6:18 pm
She certainly is! I agree about reflections, and I have been grateful to this little retention pond for its very big reflection show.
April 28, 2024 at 10:23 pm
And it has such beautiful images to reflect!
April 28, 2024 at 11:01 pm
Agreed!
April 28, 2024 at 11:23 pm
Wonderful words and a nice slant on the subject. Cameras often fall to the influence of others.
April 28, 2024 at 11:42 pm
“Nice slant on the subject.” Good one! Thanks, Dan!