The Train (an ekphrastic poem)

The Prompt

According to good old Merriam Webster, the term ‘ekphrasis’ means “a literary description of or commentary on a visual work of art.” Ekphrastic poems, then, are poems about works of visual art. I’m not sure if the people who know things about poetry would agree with me, but I interpret this broadly to mean that any poem inspired by visual art can be considered ekphrastic, even if the connection between picture and poem are nebulous to everyone besides (or possibly including) the poet.

With this loosy goosey definition of an ekphrastic poem as our framework, I hereby invite you to try your hand at writing one! Below, you’ll find Kandinsky’s “Railway in Murnau,” which was given as an ekphrastic prompt in the poetry workshop I’m attending, and below that, you’ll find my poem inspired by the painting. I’m leading with the prompt rather than with my poem in case you prefer to respond to the painting without being influenced by my response to it. If crafting a poem based on a painting seems hard, remember that you don’t need to start spinning out a poem the second you lay eyes on the picture. Take a breath or two or ten. Spend some time with the image. Does it stir up any feelings? Memories? Associations? You might even set a time for 5 or 10 minutes and do a bit of prose freewriting to get the juices flowing, then whittle a poem from the contents of those free-flowing thoughts. I look forward to reading what you come up with!

Without further adieu, “Railway in Murnau” . . .

The Train

All this hurry
pulls a shadow,
a long and chuffing
line of boxes,
commuting past
rainbow hills
toward a life
about to begin—

but when?

Ekphrastic Bonus Material

Just in case you loved the experience of penning a poem with your peepers pinned to a picture so much that you want to do it all again, I offer you the following photographic masterpiece of the newest member of our community, Bob Barker (to whom you have already been poetically introduced if you read the poems in the comments thread to the post entitled “How to Catch a Rainbow”).

Thank you all for being here! I look forward to spending time with you in the comments thread! (And if you’ve never shared there but are kinda sorta wanting to, please chime in - we don’t bite!)