Prompts

Ekphrastic Writing . . . Prompt #477

Today’s writing prompt is inspired by Jumpstart Writing Facilitator Lakin Khan.

From Lakin:

Participants in the Jumpstart Writing Workshops that I facilitate have been doing some ekphrastic writing, which is descriptive writing about or a response to visual art.

We have been having fun looking at paintings and photos, imaging stories and practicing writing visual descriptions.

Lakin’s response to a postcard of Claude Monet’s painting “Wheat Stacks at Dawn.”

“Frost is the frosting on these giant cupcakes of hay waiting in the pale pearly peachlight of dawn for the Giant of Alsace to stomp down the hill for his morning meal. At least so far, he’s been happy with hay. What might happen if he decides to go all keto on us and demand ostrich-eggs over easy and a side of humans to start his day?”   ~ Lakin Khan


Another example is Anne Sexton’s poem “Starry Night” one of many ekphrastic responses to the painting of the same name by Vincent Van Gogh.

Perhaps you remember Don McLean’s song, “Starry Starry Night” — another example of an artist in one medium responding to an artist from another.

I hope you find a chance to write ekphrastically, locating an image that sparks your imagination or elicits a response.

Or take a chance with random postcards or images in a magazine or museum brochure.

Or even better, treat yourself to a trip to an art museum and spend some time writing there.

Originally posted on January 29, 2020 by Lakin Khan on her blog, Rhymes With Bacon.

Lakin Khan facilitates Jumpsart Writing Workshops in Sonoma and Marin Counties.

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