This week, we learned all about ekphrastic poetry! This kind of poetry is inspired and written about a piece of art. First, we read two ekphrastic poems: one by a student poet that was inspired by the painting “Solitary Orpheus” by Giogio de Chirico and the second: a poem called “Replica of The Thinker” by Matthew Olzmann. We read the poems, looked at the pieces of art, and talked about what we noticed and liked, and how the poem brought new meaning to the art piece. Then students were given some art pieces to look at before they brainstormed and wrote their own ekphrastic poems. Check out a few of them below!
–
Mr. Smith’s Classroom
–
The Love for Earth (inspired by the art piece “Koko Crater” by Monte Dolack)
by Brenda
The love of earth is the place
you live in, the place that can
make you feel alive and the air in the sky
that could fly you to peace
it is big enough for your dreams
the beautiful sunset that the sky brings us
the earth is the most beautiful thing
Just imagine a field of flowers and trees
Earth does that
Love Earth just as much
as the things it brings you
–
Black and White (inspired by Hiro Yamagata’s painting “Approaching the Finish Line”)
by Heleny
Everything is very dark and depressed
They might be playing a game
Who knows?
There are stones, flowers, people
and people and flowers and stores
There is a little boy who
wanted a balloon
his father refused and they
went
The world looks so hard
even without color the world is sad
I don’t want a world without color.
–
Mr. Hollich’s Classroom
–
Salmon (inspired by Monte Dolack’s painting “Ressurection”)
by Juan
Salmon going upriver
doing the same life cycle
going upstream putting eggs there
and then they go back
and then after some weeks you see
a lot of trouts around
but it’s not the same for
Coho and King Salmon
they go upstream, put eggs out
and die, that’s their life
cycle which is different
than the Steelhead cycle.
–
Meaning (inspired by Monte Dolack’s painting called “Animal Rites”)
by Jazmin
the meaning of an art piece can be important
This could have meant that
us humans try to hunt down
animals and always have
Bad and good animals
but in reality they are
all just animals
all are good
all are equal
all are important
all bond together
without being bad or hurtful
They are just
trying to survive in the wild
without people trying to hunt them
They are strong.
–
The White Buffalo (inspired by Monte Dolack’s art piece “Big Medicine)
by Joshua
The white buffalo is alone
There is no one but it left
All alike are gone
taken away
it’s the last one left
but that’s okay
It’s different now.
