Negative and Positive Space
How the idea of space shapes my poetry.
Published in
3 min readMar 3, 2024
Delfino’s masterly use of
negative space in
depicting ʻōhiʻa lehua tree
growing in Hawaii’s
Volcano National Park
inspired this poem.
Positive space is
subject or foci in
image such as
person’s face
figure in portrait
objects in still life or
trees in landscape painting.
Negative space is
“empty” space
around and between
image subjects,
Hard to conceive of
emptiness as nature
abhors vacuums.
Negative space
evident when
space around
subject rather than
subject itself
forms interesting shape
becoming the “real”
subject of image.
Must admit in
taking photographs
I’m capturing an
instant of life,
Don’t contemplate…
