Rebus: Where Words and Images Meet: Poetry - Gianna Russo

The following paragraph is the first portion of the larger essay "Jeweled Droplets after Rain."

Rain, Florida

Between rains, we slip out to brick streets and walk before clouds gush again. Once we spied something amazing: against a backdrop of leaves, purplish gems snagged our eyes. We moved in to examine. Droplets of amethyst fading to rose-quartz, then blush crystal, then clear diamond hung straight down like an unclasped bracelet — suspended, free floating, glittering on an invisible thread. As we gasped, the rain-bejeweled strand of spider web shivered. Above the strand, pokeberries had burst or been bitten by a bluejay so that maroon juice drizzled down from one raindrop to the next crafting a gradation of wonder. It reminded us: after rains when we were little and full of summer, we found oily rainbows floating in street puddles, called them fairy clothes, and counted ourselves lucky.

This essay could be categorized as a segmented, braided or lyric essay.  On the website creativenonfiction.org, Tim Bascom in his article “Picturing the Personal Essay: A Visual Guide” explains all these forms, but they tend to have a basic concept in common: “Today, many essayists are comfortable simply letting go of the overarching story line . . .so they can organize disparate scenes in a more segmented fashion, separated by bits of white space. All that remains to unify the parts is an almost imperceptible thread of theme, not narrative.”

See more at: https://www.creativenonfiction.org/online-reading/picturing-personal-essay-visual-guide#sthash.wGaIiUcl.dpuf

1. What do you think are the pros and cons for the writer in choosing this structure?

2. What are the pros and cons for readers?

3. Besides the obvious water motif, what other motifs are present in the essay?