The Ekphrastic Poem
not my batik, by the way, but an image from shutterstock.com
POETRYisEVERTHING‘s prompt for day 9 is to write an Ekphrastic poem, a poem based on a painting or another art form. As Chris explains, the ekphrastic poem can be a response to a painting, or it can give a painting a voice. To read more, you might check out a handout that I found at readwritethink.org.
I make no claims for this. Long day. Long nap in the afternoon.
Keeping the Lights on Late
The batik of the blue city with its orange lights,
its dark moon in a cracked white sky
has hung on the wall of every house I’ve lived in
for 30 years. My older daughters, when toddlers, tore it
from its frame one afternoon while I made their lunch.
Now it’s high up, unassailable,
in the two-story entry. On top of its highest tower,
a lightning rod draws the eye. There are no people ambling
the grid of the streets. But the windows are lit–
writers awake all night, scribbling.