Whomever coined the phrase: “a picture it’s worth 1000 words” clearly was not a poetic soul.
I suggest a haiku can tell 1000 pictures.
Annotations:
Edward Charles BaileyCox Totally!
For the record, from what I understand, the original phrase was “a picture is worth a 1000 words of praise”. It was coined by some famous person who was looking at an amazing painting.
I found this info in the rumpled back pocket of my brain, perhaps someone else can fill in the specific details……..
Kris Krüg dude that’s 1,000,000 words expressed in just 17 syllables or 58,232 words per syllable. bring it! ;)
Dave Olson not sure i understand the math part of this. a poem can equal 1000 pictures. not per word but that’s possible too if ya consider something like “On the first day… Dog created the universe” or whatever that famous book in hotel rooms says.
I put forth these examples of haiku which takes me down a rabbit hole of head movies:
The wandering poet Issa Kobayashi writes:
The grass around my hut also
has suffered
From summer thinness.
Just when I hear
The sundown bell,
The flower of this weed.
Basho the Haiku Master writes:
The grass-
How wonderful it is!
The summer drawing room.
Trees and stones, just as they are
Ah, how glorious!
The young leaves, the green leaves
Glittering in the sunshine!
and one more (author unknown);
When all things are hushed,
suddenly a bird’s song arouses a deep sense of stillness.
When all the flowers are departed, suddenly a single flower is seen,
and we feel the infinity of life.
However, this is not universal and sometimes photos spark something a poem might not. Art is art but do snap a photo is not a universally more poignant way of understanding or appreciating a feeling, incident or emotion. Art is art and art saves lives no matter the medium.
My meaning with the original comment is how folks might take a snapshot without significant intention rather than appreciating the moment in which the emotion occurs. Like taking picture of an ancient ruin rather than riffing about it in a journal. Of course, a photo, in context and artfully created can spark emotions of equal value but neither are mutually exclusive.
