TECH: Ekphrasis!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting 13 Nov 2009

Ekphrasis! The poor man was suffering from it, what could be done?

No, this is our word from an article in Writers Digest, February 2005, pages 41 to 43. The title is "The Fine Art of Poetry" by Miriam Sagan. And that odd word ekphrasis (say it five times in a row and it starts to roll trippingly off your tongue, eh?) apparently is an old term for making poetry based on a work of visual art. Sculpture, paintings, I suppose even music videos and advertisements are all fair targets to help you spark your poetry. "It's a time-honored technique of poetry to draw inspiration from other art forms. Often the imagination of another artist can truly fire a poet's desire for expression."

Apparently the term originally referred to the part of a poem that showed us something -- that drew an image. A description of Achilles shield or something like that. However, today it simply means a poem drawn from a particular piece of art -- or about a particular piece of art. There are no fixed formal constraints, and it's up to you as to whether you go to the museum or simply contemplate a reproduction. Nowadays, you might even take a look at Google images or some such digital repository and see what catches your eye there.

Miriam suggests a field trip. Dedicate some time to a poetry field trip. A museum, a park, that funny public sculpture in front of a corporate headquarters or perhaps the art hanging in a shopping mall? Take some time, look around, see the pieces and their setting and the people. Relax, look, let yourself respond and feel. Make some notes.

Next, "enter the scene and describe it." Describe the piece and the setting. Think about the words you're using, the colors, the lighting, the sounds, the smells -- and pick out the parts that really need to be there.

Miriam suggests starting with objective description. Then let your imagination take sway. "What do you imagine about the piece or the artist? Can you place yourself in the scene?" Interlace objective bits, sketching what you see in words, with your own inward description. Spend some time at this -- 20 minutes or so. You may feel as if you reach a natural stopping point. Give yourself a minute or two to make sure.

This is a journey of exploration. Clearly, ekphrasis already has a theme -- the piece of art in front of you. But feel free to welcome unexpected twists. Your poem does not have to be just a word sketch of the painting -- it's a painting, plus you.

There's a sidebar, that gives 12 steps to writing an ekphrasis poem:

1. Select your piece of art.
2. Take plenty of time to be alone with it and absorb it.
3. Draft some notes.
4. Observe color, forms, materials.
5. Notice how it makes you feel.
6. Add some historical or biographical material about the artist if you like.
7. Start drafting the poem.
8. Allow yourself to move back and forth between subjective reactions and objective observations.
9. Step out of the frame of the art if you like and observe the passing scene or your own reaction.
10. If you haven't been writing in lines of poetry, break the prose where you'd naturally take breaths.
11. Let the poem sit and revise it after a few days (but don't edit out the freshness of your initial response).
12. Enjoy -- and remember you can do this whenever you need a little inspiration.

So there you have it. Ekphrasis really isn't something you suffer from, it's just another way of inciting you to poetry with a little dash of art. So go ahead and try it.

Write!