Overview
An ekphrastic poem fails when it describes the artwork. "There is a woman in a blue dress standing by a window" is a caption, not a poem. An ekphrastic poem that works does something the visual art cannot do: it enters the image, gives voice to what is silent, argues with what the artist chose to show, or finds in the image something the artist did not intend.
The Ekphrastic Poem Prompt generates a poem that responds to visual art through one of three strategies: entering the image (inhabiting it from inside), arguing with it (questioning what the artist chose), or finding the gap (what the image does not show and why that matters).
What you get: - The ekphrastic strategy (enter, argue, find the gap) - What the poem does that the image cannot - A complete ekphrastic poem - Three ekphrastic approaches - What the poem adds to the artwork
Built for: Poets responding to visual art, photography, sculpture, film stills, or any visual work.