THE SHADOW OF A SHADOW: a brief introduction to photopoetry by Phil Cope
In May 2025, Offline Journal published my paper, The Shadow of a Shadow, on photography and poetry.
I came to realize, in researching the essay, that I had been interested in the relationship between poetry and image (and in particular, poetry and photography) for some considerable time, and had actually produced a number of photopoetry books, already.
Back in 2010, the publisher Gwasg Carreg Gwalch had commissisioned Wales’ premier anthologist, Dewi Roberts (sadly no longer with us), and myself to produce The Dancing Pilgrimage of Water: writings on the rivers, lakes and reservoirs of Wales. He chose the poems, I provided the photographs.
Back then, though, I hadn’t even thought of this book as being photopoetry (I’m not sure I’d even heard of the term).I certainly didn’t fully understood the possibilities; and had little knowledge of the rich depths of photopoetry’s history or the avenues opened up when merging the two media.
At the same time as having all of this swimming around in my head, I’d arranged a trip to Grenada to search for the grave of Spain’s greatest writer, Federico Garcia Lorca. Poet, playwright, artist, activist and musician, Federico Garcia Lorca was arrested on 16 August 1936 in the early days of the Spanish Civil War, and taken to the Civil Government building, in Granada, where General Queipo, the commander of the Nationalists advised Lorca’s captives to give him “coffee, plenty of coffee” … the code for immediate execution.
He was then moved to a makeshift prison, ‘La Colonia’ (once a summer residence for Granadian children) on the road between Alfacar and Viznar, to be tortured, and shot by General Franco’s right-wing execution squad, along with three others, two bullfighters and a one-legged schoolteacher.
I happened to mention my plans to Gerry Ray who told me that he’d lived near Huelva in Andalucia, between 2004 and 2010, and had written a series of poems about his experiences, there, including verses on Lorca.
Having already published two of his collections (The Last Treein 2024, and Turtles Dreaming Of Fish in 2025.), I agreed to read his poems before I left for Spain … though deliberately didn’t take them with me.
On the trip, Gerry’s works were always on my mind, the landscape and the people reminding me of Gerry’s images and words (and vice versa). And, although there were never any plans to publish anything, it just seemed that a new collaborative photopoetry book was crying out to be made; call it good timing, preparedness, luck, happenstance … perhaps some things are just meant to be.
Since then, I think it’s true to say that I’ve become addicted to the challenges and benefits of photopoetry. culture & democracy’s next book is The Honest Forger: new poems and photographs for Iolo Morganwg, on the 200th anniversary, in 2026, of the death of Iolo Morganwg [1747-1826]. Poet, lexicographer, balladeer, antiquarian, theologian, drug-addict, chronicler of customs and legends, peace advocate, campaigner for human rights, fair trade pioneer, defender of the poor and the dispossessed, and the greatest authority of his time on Welsh history and literature, Iolo – the stone mason from Glamorgan – fashioned much of the identity of modern Wales.
I’d like to encourage more photopoetry alliances and publications here in Wales, more collaborations between poets and photographers, and culture & democracy press is open to discussing any ideas anyone might have for new photopoetry projects.
THE SHADOW OF A SHADOW: a brief introduction to photopoetry by Phil Cope
In May 2025, Offline Journal published my paper, The Shadow of a Shadow, on photography and poetry.
I came to realize, in researching the essay, that I had been interested in the relationship between poetry and image (and in particular, poetry and photography) for some considerable time, and had actually produced a number of photopoetry books, already.
Back in 2010, the publisher Gwasg Carreg Gwalch had commissisioned Wales’ premier anthologist, Dewi Roberts (sadly no longer with us), and myself to produce The Dancing Pilgrimage of Water: writings on the rivers, lakes and reservoirs of Wales. He chose the poems, I provided the photographs.
Back then, though, I hadn’t even thought of this book as being photopoetry (I’m not sure I’d even heard of the term).I certainly didn’t fully understood the possibilities; and had little knowledge of the rich depths of photopoetry’s history or the avenues opened up when merging the two media.
At the same time as having all of this swimming around in my head, I’d arranged a trip to Grenada to search for the grave of Spain’s greatest writer, Federico Garcia Lorca. Poet, playwright, artist, activist and musician, Federico Garcia Lorca was arrested on 16 August 1936 in the early days of the Spanish Civil War, and taken to the Civil Government building, in Granada, where General Queipo, the commander of the Nationalists advised Lorca’s captives to give him “coffee, plenty of coffee” … the code for immediate execution.
He was then moved to a makeshift prison, ‘La Colonia’ (once a summer residence for Granadian children) on the road between Alfacar and Viznar, to be tortured, and shot by General Franco’s right-wing execution squad, along with three others, two bullfighters and a one-legged schoolteacher.
I happened to mention my plans to Gerry Ray who told me that he’d lived near Huelva in Andalucia, between 2004 and 2010, and had written a series of poems about his experiences, there, including verses on Lorca.
Having already published two of his collections (The Last Treein 2024, and Turtles Dreaming Of Fish in 2025.), I agreed to read his poems before I left for Spain … though deliberately didn’t take them with me.
On the trip, Gerry’s works were always on my mind, the landscape and the people reminding me of Gerry’s images and words (and vice versa). And, although there were never any plans to publish anything, it just seemed that a new collaborative photopoetry book was crying out to be made; call it good timing, preparedness, luck, happenstance … perhaps some things are just meant to be.
Since then, I think it’s true to say that I’ve become addicted to the challenges and benefits of photopoetry. culture & democracy’s next book is The Honest Forger: new poems and photographs for Iolo Morganwg, on the 200th anniversary, in 2026, of the death of Iolo Morganwg [1747-1826]. Poet, lexicographer, balladeer, antiquarian, theologian, drug-addict, chronicler of customs and legends, peace advocate, campaigner for human rights, fair trade pioneer, defender of the poor and the dispossessed, and the greatest authority of his time on Welsh history and literature, Iolo – the stone mason from Glamorgan – fashioned much of the identity of modern Wales.
I’d like to encourage more photopoetry alliances and publications here in Wales, more collaborations between poets and photographers, and culture & democracy press is open to discussing any ideas anyone might have for new photopoetry projects.
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