Guest Bloggers

Why I Love Writing Ekphrastic Poetry

Why I Love Writing Ekphrastic Poetry by Guest Blogger, Robin Gabbert Yes, I do love writing ekphrastic poetry!  It’s poetry that never requires a prompt besides the piece of art you are viewing — be it a painting, a sculpture, a collage, digital rendering, or other artistic presentation such as dance, drama, and music (so hearing counts). You don’t have to search for writing prompts beyond your nearest museum or gallery (or their website) or a visit to WikiArt or Google Arts & Culture to search for your favorite artist or browse for something new that sparks your imagination. Ekphrastic poetry has been with us since at least the time of Homer and has been used by many of our best poets. An early example is John Keats “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Rainer Maria Rilke was another advocate as shown in his beautifully descriptive poem “Archaic Torso of Apollo.”…