The Eight Step Ekphrastic Poem

Venice Facade, William Merritt Chase, 1878

This dormant season is perfect for germinating poems, isn't it? I've been germinating a poem for the Winter Poem Swap. Tabatha offered a Monet painting for participants to use as a prompt if we chose to write an ekphrastic poem. I love this sort of challenge and, for me, the process is definitely akin to germination. It can take weeks! I offer this post as a peek into my process, which is of course not the only process.

The poem (not the Winter Swap :Poem) that evolved from living with this painting  by William Merritt Chase is very different from anything I usually write! But for me, that's the gift of allowing a piece of art to inspire me. I often find myself in new territory.

Shuttered Windows

         response to Venice Facade

Behind shuttered triptych windows,

a mystic ushers in her lion.

The cool still air caresses silence

like a nun dusting a sanctuary.

She brushes tangles from his mane,

and with the flask filched in her novice days,

bestows a drop of oil.

This ritual is all that remains.

No crucifix, no candle.

Just jumbled faded tarot cards

and incense wafting away the smell of age.

She covers her head with turquoise gauze,

gazes into a ball and chants

to lovers lost and the lover found.

Her lion reclines on a cot having

discarded his hair shirt.

 

                       Joyce Ray © All rights reserved

So here's my process. 

Step 1: Plant the seed image. Print image and post prominently so my subconscious can begin work.

 

Step 2: With pencil, sketch image in a sketch book (it doesn't matter if drawing is not your forte! Writing is!)

I sketched Venice Facade at the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3: Try stream of consciousness writing about the image. 

Or record words and phrases that rose to surface while drawing. The following notebook images illustrate work on last year's Winter Poem Swap.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 4: STUDY ORIGINAL IMAGE, looking for clues and missed details. Ask, what is the artist trying to say? How can I bring my experience to the image?

 

Step 5: Begin fitting phrases together and watch for the poem seedling to peek through. Sometimes I do this in my sketchbook, sometimes on laptop.  REJOICE when the seedling pokes its pale face through the page to greet you!

 

Step 6: Type a draft. No judgement zone! Try different poetic forms and free verse. In which direction is the draft stretching?

 

Step 7: Read the draft aloud.

 

Step 8: Revise for sound, excessive words, word choice. Strengthen the poem seedling so it can stand alone.

I’d like to know how others go about responding to art.

Tara has the Round-up over at A Teaching Life . Drop in. There may or may not be other ekphrastic poems today, but there'll be poems galore!

EKPHRASTIC POETRY

Today, I’m highlighting a new anthology that contains conversations with some of the masterworks in New England museums.

Sara and Nana

The Poetry Loft in Cranston, RI sponsored a contest in 2013, and my critique partner, Tricia Orr, and I workshopped each others' entries. We were both finalists with the opportunity to read at the Providence Public Library. The contest was judged by poet Denise Duhamel.

Editor Beatrice Lazarus says in the Preface, "... ekphrastic poets push deep inside the painted curves... ." What a poetic description of the ekphrastic poet's process!

B.K. Fisher writes in the Introduction, "ekphrasis invites both homage and backtalk", and the reader can see this clearly in the fifty-five poems. There is also a CD with the art and the poems together. I find myself reading and re-reading while I consider the art and try to see the paintings in the same way the poets saw them.

The link for ordering is here is here if you need an ekphrastic fix! The Roundup today is over at The Miss Rumphius Effect. Thank you for hosting, Tricia!