Ekphrastic Exaltation Redux
Ten more days of writing/poetic inspiration
I love everything about Lexington Poetry Month and even if no one but the Rebel Cartographers uses this collection of writing/poetic inspirations I just don’t care. I enjoy the opportunity to revisit each of these inspirations. As I noted in the original Ekphrastic Exaltation (LexPoMo Day 1-10) I am a tremendous fan of ekphrasis (drawing inspiration from a work of “art” created by another). I hope that you too finding a sense of well-being, power, or (hopefully and) importance from this collection and possibly even great joy as well. I know that LexPoMo always brings me great joy so I cannot help but evangelize!
Last week was such a busy week I didn’t have time to share this collection and so the third and final installment will likely follow much sooner! Full transparency, I elected to focus my last post on Celebrating the Slow Read and I refuse to apologize. Last week was very busy with multiple writing groups/events combined with LexPoMo so part of me is glad to hold onto the LexPoMo magic even as our month-long communion comes to an end.
And so I offer you the most common writing invitations I share with my writing students and writing group, lift a line, an image, or an idea from the poems (you will need to click the link to explore the poems) or simply begin to write in answer to one of these questions or invitations:
June 11: My poem was the second of four cowboy poems, but the five poems I gleaned led me to contemplate: What do you need to remember? What do you need to forget? What do you need to forgive?
June 12: The seven poems I selected for this day offer a theme I often write about myself: What do your bones feel? What does your heart feel? What footprints have you left?
June 13: Seven poems that invite you to consider your ancestral memories and fearful choices!
June 14: Seven poems inviting you to play with words and tell stories rich and layered even if they do not appear to do so at first glance.
June 15: Six poems and an invitations to contemplate your monstrous fears and the primal forces you struggle to escape.
June 16: Seven poems suggesting you take a snapshot from your memory and write it out to share those emotions and lessons then write a poem to make the future a better place.
June 17: Six poems inviting you to consider the markers you have laid down and the voices on the wind that guided you home.
June 18: Six poems and an invitation to write about the spirits speaking to you and the beloved relatives/living things you encounter in your daily life.
June 19: Six poems and an invitation to write: What spontaneous fermentation can you observe in the sky or at your feet or just possibly inside your home or yourself?
June 20: Six poems and an invitation to write about what you have learned about your humanity from beings who are not human.
Don’t forget to subscribe so you won’t miss the third and final Ekphrastic Exaltation as well as updates on my Reading the USA Challenge and a look back on six months of reading, watching, and writing in community! Let me know what brings you to this space and what you most want to read from me: book recommendations, writing invitations, or thoughts about what I’m watching?