Calotype

And so it begins! Napowrimo 2025 starts today with a corker of a prompt: to take inspiration from this glossary of art terminology, and write a poem that uses a new-to-you word. I've chosen the word 'calotype' which is a photographic process invented in 1841 and was the first time a stable negative image could be fixed and then contact printed. The glossary explains: 

"The process involves exposing a sheet of sensitized paper in the camera then developing, fixing, and washing it. Though calotypes are soft and hazy, with visible paper fibers, the invention revolutionized image-making by making it possible to produce multiple prints from one negative image."

This seems like an appropriate metaphor for the process of fixing an idea into a poem! 

(How I'm going to fit Napowrimo poems in with my upcoming trip to WiFi-less Lundy and OU assignments remains to be seen,  but I'm determined to give it a try!)


Calotype

An image floats
hazy, undefined,
seeking the words that will 
bring it to a place
it can land, spread out,
find its true form,
to lie fixed on the page
for strangers to share. 

© Copyright 2025. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved





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