Ekphrastic

EKPHRASTIC

Now that's a heck of a word, isn't it? "Ekphrastic." Or "ekphrasis." I actually just learned the word's meaning a month or so ago while exploring a poetry site's submission guidelines. 

For me, the word created thoughts of some sort of negative medical diagnosis--images of doctors gathered in a hospital looking at a chart, or an ex-ray, or scan, or lab results and muttering, "We have an advanced ekphrastic situation here." Or maybe, "This is the worst case of ekphrasis I've ever seen." Or maybe, "If this progresses to ekphrasis, we'll lose him (or her)." 

freepic

But no. It's not a medical term. It's a literary term and it's actually what Lynette and I have been collaborating on without even realizing we were. Our concept, as explained in our previous post, is to feature Lynette's photography as the catalyst for my poetry. Her art as the basis for my words. So, guess what "ekphrastic" means:

"Ekphrastic poetry, also known as ekphrasis, is a form of writing that describes and interprets a work of visual art...through poetic language. It uses vivid descriptions and imaginative reflections to amplify the meaning and impact of the work." (definition by Google AI)

 We had no idea. 

But maybe you did!

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