Ekphrastic poetry

During our afternoon time with Renee, we completed an ekphrastic poetry prompt. Ekphrastic poetry is simply poetry which is inspired by a work of art. For this prompt, we rummaged through various prints that Renee provided. Some were religious images, some were realistic landscapes, and some were abstract images. I was intrigued by Gypsy Witch  by Joanna Ruocco.

We first described the image for 10 minutes. Then, we wrote down 3-5 questions that the art seems to be asking. We next wrote a zen parable about the artwork in which we answered at least one of the questions we posed during the last mini-activity. Lastly, (and oddly) we received a non-fiction article and had to pull out facts from it and write them down. The prompt was originally created by Kathy Grayber and, in short, these were the steps:

1. Describe the art only
2. Discuss issues raised by art
3. Tell a story from life
4. Use external information
5. Come back to the art

While I ultimately did not write a final poem from those various steps, completing those steps was an enriching experience. I might come back to that prompt at a later point and try it again, hoping to have its result be an ekphrastic poem.

Unfortunately, I could not find an online image of Ruocco's art, but here is what I completed for step one: