Johanna Shapiro PhD
Abstract
Poetry is meant to move below and beyond the surface of things. Take the poem by J. Freeman (see record 2007-19994-014) and the poem by L. Preisendanz (see record 2007-19994-015), for example. The former is about numbers, the latter about photos, both ordinary and straightforward “things,” small and unworthy of much notice. But these poems help us understand that everything matters if we are paying attention. Both numbers and photographs have an ineluctable relationship with time. Numbers are used to mark the passing of time, to identify unique moments in time. Photos likewise remind us of time gone by. In a sense, both are memento mori. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)