In response to the sepia photograph prompt at The Mag which was a new find for me in 2012 – now taking a bit of a break – this ekphrastic poem:
Sunlit Still
Captured for
all time
in the silent
shadows.
A sunlit room,
snapshots
in time
in a snapshot of time.
Unlit candles
cast darkness on sills.
A frozen head
observes
time stands still.
It is 10:30.
It remains 10:30.
It will never be other
than 10:30.
Polly Stretton © 2016
journalread 
27/08/2012 at 10:01
Time stood still when things are left on their own. But it’s good to take a look from time to time. Nice write, Polly!
Hank
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27/08/2012 at 10:04
Thank you Hank ~ your thoughts appreciated 🙂
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27/08/2012 at 11:18
Glad you found the Mag. I enjoy Tess’s prompt art pics. I like this Polly. Love the attention to time standing still at 10:30. I liked this pic because while the room is empty, bare, the light flooding in lifts the gloom of it, I think.
Very nice write.
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27/08/2012 at 11:37
Thanks Bren ~ good to see you enjoyed Sunlit Still ~ was intrigued to find out what time the clock said as photos just capture the moment … love the light in the gloomy room too.
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27/08/2012 at 11:25
and if 1030 was good, that is a good thing but just don’t get caught in the wrong moment…smiles….too bad we can not capture some moments….
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27/08/2012 at 11:38
heh-heh … trust you Brian!
You’re right, it is too bad we cannot capture some moments, miss them by seconds sometimes ‘eh?
Thanks for your thoughts 🙂
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27/08/2012 at 13:52
Wow! I like this. Times stands still…it will never be another time….
I focused on the clock too. It seems to command the room.
Thanks!
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27/08/2012 at 13:56
Yes, for me too Yvonne ~ thanks for your kind comments
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27/08/2012 at 15:20
I was standing in that room, your poem brought me there. Love your description.
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27/08/2012 at 16:10
Mmmm … the picture seems to draw one in too, I felt curious about it, wanted to know more. I see lots of writers have made up whole stories about it, fascinating.
Glad you like the poem and description Dan 🙂
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27/08/2012 at 18:00
Great to see you at The Mag ~
I like the captured stillness…the clock time was a good clear image ~
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27/08/2012 at 18:03
Thank you for commenting Grace ~ I was particularly struck by the clock, the ‘snapshot in time’ element of the piece 🙂
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27/08/2012 at 21:26
Frozen head…shivers!
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27/08/2012 at 22:36
heh-heh … your prompt 🙂
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27/08/2012 at 23:35
Frozen in time, there’s a sense that something dramatic happened at the moment the clock stopped. It evokes some disaster, Marie-Celeste style.
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28/08/2012 at 05:12
Yes, that’s how it grabs you!
A mystery …
Thanks for visiting.
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28/08/2012 at 00:56
Great prompt, wasn’t it? And your fixation on 10:30 pulled me in.
=)
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28/08/2012 at 05:14
It was a great prompt, I hadn’t planned to be responding to prompts over this weekend but this one drew me in …
Thanks for your thoughts.
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28/08/2012 at 01:25
Frozen in time… makes me wonder what happened before this.
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28/08/2012 at 05:15
It really does, Laurie. I loved some of the stories others made up about the place.
Lovely to see you 🙂
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28/08/2012 at 02:05
That’s chilling. Never able to escape. “Frozen head” so much like severed head…witty. Thank you.
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28/08/2012 at 05:16
heh-heh … I like it when folk are on the same wavelength. Thanks ds.
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28/08/2012 at 04:54
Yes, that 10:30 will never again be seen…what did happen at that moment… makes me wonder. Enjoyed this, Polly…thanks for that!
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28/08/2012 at 05:18
Yes, and what was the day / date, I wonder … such an interesting prompt with such diverse responses … ace … thanks for your comments Gayle
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28/08/2012 at 10:34
Reminds me of my Grandmother’s house!
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28/08/2012 at 10:36
Wow! How fantastic! Great to think it’s like a place you knew well when you were a child ~ do you still visit?
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28/08/2012 at 15:43
Ooo it has an eeriness to it!
Lovely piece – lovely photograph too!
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28/08/2012 at 15:47
Yes, there is something about that photo ~ thanks for your comments Alex 🙂
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30/08/2012 at 21:21
Oh how much I would live there and bring the room back to life…
Anna :o]
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30/08/2012 at 21:29
Me too Anna 🙂
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01/09/2012 at 17:09
Somehow I missed your poem first time around … love this, especially how you ended it.
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26/07/2016 at 14:06
I can hear the creaking of the wooden floors and the air reading your poem, Beautifully penned 🙂
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26/07/2016 at 14:09
As you can see from the comments above, it’s a redraft from 2012 – there’s something about it that I wanted to share…
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26/07/2016 at 15:19
ah gotcha
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26/07/2016 at 14:08
Great piece. Image and words melded perfectly. Thank you for sharing! I really enjoyed this.
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26/07/2016 at 18:14
Glad you enjoyed it 😀
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26/07/2016 at 18:03
Beautifully evocative of the past frozen in time~
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26/07/2016 at 18:14
…almost spooky… 😀
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26/07/2016 at 18:25
The power of photography is in its ability to stop time.
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26/07/2016 at 18:25
You’d know, Rebecca 😀
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26/07/2016 at 18:30
Thank you!! I have been looking back at my father’s photos that date 80 years. Oh, how I would like to know the stories of those people who stare back at me. Photography can stop time, but the stories must be carried with words. Thank you for your words…
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26/07/2016 at 18:35
Old photos are so evocative of bygone times, imagination is a wondrous thing 🙂
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26/07/2016 at 19:01
Polly, so evocative and yet hauntingly serene. I can almost put myself in the picture. 🙂
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26/07/2016 at 22:55
Yes, it feels as if you’re there. I love the photo 😄
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27/07/2016 at 17:08
For some reason, it is as if I had seen it before in a movie? That is what it reminds me of… 🙂
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27/07/2016 at 17:52
Something perhaps cinemagraphic? Maybe…I don’t know where it came from other than the blog prompt 🙂
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27/07/2016 at 18:12
It may be nothing like the house from the film but that is what it reminds me of is the Morgan’s house from How Green Was My Valley. Perhaps it just casts that feeling? 🙂
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27/07/2016 at 18:24
I had to look it up and I see what you mean – most reminiscent 🙂
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27/07/2016 at 18:27
I loved that movie from when I first saw it as a child. It was Wales and therefore a link to my grandmother who was from Cardiff. how could I forget? 🙂 The picture really hit me as so very familiar and then the film came to mind.
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27/07/2016 at 18:31
What a lovely memory 😀
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27/07/2016 at 18:36
Thank you Polly. 🙂
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26/07/2016 at 22:35
I had to come see what posting all of a sudden started getting more comments, Polly. 🙂 I remember this photo well because I joined in on that prompt too. Such an interesting photo…I believe I wrote a villanelle… I hope you are doing well these days.
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26/07/2016 at 22:53
Yes, I remember, Gayle…wasn’t it before you moved? Ages ago, anyway. I’m well thanks—nice when a poem gets hits the second time around 😄
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27/07/2016 at 02:14
You have a good memory, Polly, it was before I moved…yes, ages ago now. 🙂 It is satisfying when a poem gets admired a second go round…and I did too (admire it I mean).
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27/07/2016 at 12:22
Thank you Gayle – hope all’s well with you and your grandbabe x
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27/07/2016 at 17:17
That grandbabe is soon to be four years old! Time flies doesn’t it? 🙂
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27/07/2016 at 17:50
You’re clearly having fun 🙂
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