Welcome to Day 28! Today's prompt is an idea of what to write about with this stunning linoprint by Sue Wheeler. This is the last of our four ekphrasis prompts, each featuring a different local artist depicting Oxford in a different medium, and as we edge towards summer, we have this glorious depiction of the Isis complete with a college boathouse and a steamer:
Click on the image for a large version
All of Sue's work has these wonderful strong colours, bold lines mixing geometric and organic shapes, and that sense of depth, space, and joy. You can browse her complete gallery here – for Oxfordphiles, look out for her interior of the Covered Market fruit and veg stall (That's Bonners Oxford), her view down Turl Street with Lincoln College, and her interior of the Ashmolean Museum. She also has some wonderful landscapes of the countryside surrounding Oxford. Sue trained at the Central School of Art and Design and for the past fifteen years has specialised in printmaking. She runs printmaking classes for all levels in her beautiful studio in the village of Radley, about three miles south of Oxford. You can see her workshops here.
A quick reminder about ekphrasis: it simply means "writing about art", anything from responding to the piece personally to just describing what you see. You could write in free verse or use it to explore any poem form you've had your eye on which you haven't tried yet – ekphrasis is always a useful way to explore a new form. If you'd like an idea for a type of poem, I think the bold energy and natural landscape here lends itself well to playing with kennings. Kennings are two nouns (thing-words) combined to create a new word – eg “swan-road” for river, "sky-candle" for sun, "sea-steed" for ship, and so forth. They’re often poetic and riddling, and Old English poetry used them extensively. We actually have plenty of kennings that we still use, familiar phrases like "book-worm" or online jokes like "danger-noodle" for snake. Inventing your own kennings is an absolute delight and lends an unexpected twist to a poem.
The Meddling with Poetry course explores a host of different poetry forms as well as the musicality of language, poetic imagery, and other aspects of the poetic. It's 8 weeks long, one evening a week, and absolute beginners and experienced writers are equally welcome. You can read more details and book a place here.
