It's Fun to Write an Ekphrastic Poem

 

Reflections by Richard E. Miller (1915)

Do you know the meaning of an ekphrastic poem? It's simply a poem inspired by a work of art. In the old Greek, it meant vivid description. Fifteen people could view and study the painting in today's post titled "Reflections," and each would write something different about it. 

At one of my writing group conferences, we all picked up a postcard size photo of a painting. We had ten minutes to study it and come up with a short poem. "Reflections" by Richard E. Miller (1915) was the one I selected. I wrote the following poem to accompany the painting. 

Reflections

She gazes at herself

Looking so pensive,

Shoulder bared,

Beads falling on

Snowy chemise.

She ponders

Her pregnancy

Just now known,

Who to tell

And how.

She hates this

Seed within.

Planted by him,

The one hired 

Only to drive their car.

Maybe I had been watching 'Downton Abbey' or some such show or had been reading a similar book. Where else could the poem have been derived from? 

Here is a public domain work of art for you to try writing your own ekphrastic poem. 

Two Sisters on the Terrace--Pierre Auguste Renoir 1881

Study the painting, foreground, and background. Study the expressions on the faces, the basket on the table. Then write a short poem. Even if you've never written a poem before. 

Have fun with this exercise.