Mobile Photography / Art – Saturday Poetry – ‘Self-Portrait as Semiramis’ by Mary-Kim Arnold with @thefringeproject
This weeks Saturday Poetry, matched with mobile photography/art is entitled ‘Self-Portrait as Semiramis’ by Mary-Kim Arnold. Arnold is the author of The Fish & The Dove, forthcoming from Noemi Press in 2020, and Litany for the Long Moment (Essay Press, 2018). She teaches creative nonfiction at Brown University and lives in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
I have matched mobile art work entitled ‘Fringe number eleven’. From a collaboration entitled @thefringeproject with @imagomimago – Mimi Svanberg, together with photographer @catolein – Cato Lein.
You can view and follow this project on Instagram here.
If you would like to be featured in our Saturday Poetry section, please ensure you include the hashtag #theappwhisperer to any images posted to Instagram. This will mean we will be able to consider it.
To view the others we have published in this section, go here.
‘Self-Portrait as Semiramis’ by Mary-Kim Arnold
Had I been raised by doves
wouldn’t I have learned
to fly
By wolves
to hunt in packs
Had I been raised by gods
wouldn’t I too
be godlike
In the movies the orphan
is the killer
not loved enough
unwanted
But wasn’t I
most
wanted
My mother
fish goddess
dove into the sea
for the sin of loving
a mortal man
I love a mortal man too
At night I coax him
from sleep
rousing him
with my mouth
By day
we build high brick walls
around us
our Babylon
Had my mother lived
to see me rise from this boundless
deep
would she recognize me
as I have grown large
and my arms have become
the long arms of the sea
reaching over
and over
for the shore
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Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
