Ekphrasis!

Ekphrastic, or ekphrasis, a Greek word meaning “a literary description of, or commentary on, a visual work of art.” Generating ekphrastic response is the current project at the Maryhill Musuem of Art.  The museum invites patrons to view art from its collections, and then to write a poem in response to their experience of the art.  The museum will then share those poems for further response. The goal of the project is to create and connect inspiration to visual works of art. They call it art inspired by art. 

What a beautiful concept. It reminds me of the power of the wonderful, living connection between us and everything.  When we pay attention to something, we notice the multi-layered, complex response evoked by it within us.  Whether it is a person, a painting, a story, a poem, or a drop of water on a leaf, when we “see” it we are touched in some way, and we respond.  It is the power to evoke response that we value in art, in writing, in relationship.  How we respond is what makes us uniquely human.

As writers, we aim to generate response in readers, to evoke feelings and images that allow them to see and experience the world in ways they could not have imagined on their own.  The more evocative our writing is, the more deeply we touch the reader. Think of books and art that still live with you, and have become part of you.

As an example, one of Rodin’s sculptural works, exhibited in The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, generated a profound response in me.  Although there were many works of art on display, I kept returning to one particular piece by Rodin; the study of the head of a man about to be hanged, part of the “Burghers of Calais”.   I stood there with this piece of art for over an hour, stunned, weeping, Hauntingly beautiful, sad, and powerful, it affected in an unexpected way..  

I tried my hand at creating an ekprastic poem on this piece. What art lives within you?

Death,

unexpected

unjust

untimely

has come for me.

On the steps of the gallows

time compresses

to a sigh

love unexpressed

affairs left undone

I don’t want to leave

Not today.