Nine months ago, I had never heard of the word “Ekphrastic.” In an Introduction to Poetry class that I took last fall, I learned that the word means “description” in Greek. According to The Poetry Foundation:
An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning. A notable example is Ode on a Grecian Urn, in which the poet John Keats speculates on the identity of the lovers who appear to dance and play music, simultaneously frozen in time and in perpetual motion. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/ekphrasis
We were assigned to write an ekphrastic poem, and I had fun writing mine inspired by Georgia O’Keefe’s Abstract White Rose, 1927. Here’s a link where you can see the painting: https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/abstraction-white-rose.jsp
A Single White Rose
Petals curling and blending
Into each other. Unclear
Where one begins
And the other ends.
Grays become white
And white becomes grays
With a touch of yellow
Or maybe lavender or blue.
Circling into the center
And then back out again.
Like breathing in and
Catching one’s breath
And breathing out again.
Curving, circling, catching,
Breathing, weeping, centering,
A single white rose
Awakens a sadness
Deep within.
A second poetry course followed, led by Pam Wax, and later I showed her this poem and appreciated her feedback, which helped me to edit the poem to the version I just shared. Pam also talked about ekphrastic poetry and told us about Rattle, an online website with the mission of promoting the practice of poetry. Each month Rattle has an Ekphrastic Challenge where they share a piece of artwork and invite poets to submit poems inspired by the visual image. The artist whose artwork is featured gets to select a favorite poem, as does the editor, Timothy Green. I was fascinated and enjoyed exploring the website, seeing different artwork and the winning responses. As I continued exploring, I came across a request for artists to submit artwork for the Ekphrastic Challenge. Twelve pieces would be selected for the coming year.
Soon I was browsing through digital images of my artwork and came up with five pieces I thought might inspire poems. What a delight to get an email a few weeks later that The Kitchen Goddess had been selected for the February challenge.
In mid-March I received an email from Tim with an attachment that had 25 poems for me to select from. While 455 poems had been submitted, Tim had chosen just 25 for me to read. I read and reread the twenty-five submissions, and clearly one kept standing out to me. Before making my final decision, I went back and read them all again to see if I would change my mind. Here is what I wrote about my experience and the poem I selected, The Rebirth of Venus by Luisa Giulianetti:
I was delighted and surprised at the range of emotions and different journeys that were expressed in the poems which I reviewed. The pastel painting was part of a show calling for work on the theme of the kitchen goddess. I approached the painting from a whimsical point of view placing a dancer in a frying pan. The poem that I have selected captures the playfulness of the painting. It is called The Rebirth of Venus and the opening lines refer back to the painting Birth of Venus by Botticelli. I have fond memories of seeing that painting when I visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. I laughed with delight with the phrase ‘found new digs.’ While the Botticelli painting was not on my mind when I created my kitchen goddess, the reference shows how two paintings inspired the poem, and I love that. In the poem, the poet has the dancing goddess opening a scallop and of course the original Venus is standing in a scallop shell. In addition, the poet also captured so well the feeling of the dancer in the kitchen ‘reigning supreme.’
It was first published as the poem of the day on March 23, 20023. Here’s the link to see Giulietti’s poem: https://www.rattle.com/the-rebirth-of-venus-by-luisa-giulianetti/
Mostly Dance’s editor, Kezia Gleckman Hayman, was with me when I saw the painting Birth of Venus. We had spent time in Italy setting some of Avodah Dance Ensemble’s repertory on local dancers for a Jewish Film Festival. When our work was done we had a few fun-filled days sightseeing in Florence. Kezia reminded me that we were so fascinated with the painting that we went back to view it a second time. Here’s a link to see the Birth of Venus: https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/birth-of-venus
I was curious which poem the editor would choose, and I had to wait almost a week until it was published also as a poem of the day on March 30, 2023. He chose Joy by Melissa Madenski.
Comment from the editor, Timothy Green: “The best ekphrastic poems expand on their source image, pushing the experience in a new direction. Joy does that by finding all-too real grounding for the rich symbolism of JoAnne Tucker’s painting. Rather than describe the woman dancing in the frying pan, the poem describes the emotion she represents—and through the otherwise unrelated metaphor of the train. As a result, the poem enriches the painting while the painting enriches the poem, as if the two pieces of art were bound in their own dance together, exploring the complex transition from the darkness of grief back to the brightness of joy.”
Here is the link for Joy by Melissa Madenski: https://www.rattle.com/joy-by-melissa-madenski/
I was fascinated by his selection and that he focused on the emotion my Kitchen Goddess represented.
I encourage Mostly Dance readers to follow the link to the poems and not only to read them but to hear the poet read them. It adds another dimension. I am most grateful to Timothy Green for selecting The Kitchen Goddess for the February Ekphrastic Challenge, as it was fun, and an excellent learning experience. I look forward to following the Ekphrastic Challenges each month and reading the selected poems. I might even get brave enough to write a poem and submit it.
You can also go to the Ekphrastic Challenge page, scroll down and there is a link to both poems. https://www.rattle.com/ekphrastic/
Here’s the pastel painting The Kitchen Goddess painted around 2008 and accepted into a show in Denver
The Kitchen Goddess, pastel painting by JoAnne Tucker around 2008.
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