Ekphrasis

The students looked at Breugel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and puzzled over why it is so difficult to see Icarus; they then read William Carlos Williams' poem based upon the painting and discussed description as interpretation.

They then chose from three pictures to write their own ekphrastic poems about: a sculpture by Giacometti, a collage by Max Ernst, and a New Guinean ancestor mask.

Some of the poems don't go much beyond description; some, however, use the pictures as jumping off points to say something important about human psychological and social being.


New Guinea Ancestor
based on an ancestor mask
Julian V.


His teeth
have braces.
I think he
could get
hung up on
the wall?
I think it
could be
a baby’s
coffin?
It could be
a calendar
for something?


Giacometti
based on a sculpture by Giacometti
Xavier R.

Looks like
a house with
out cover
from the out
side.
It looks
like a
cage from
the in side
of the house
in the cage
it looks like
a ruler in
side




Don’t Get Eaten
based on a collage by Max Ernst
Javonna C.


Hey, do you
see what I see.
I see ducks

ducking around
like they’re on
something

worm
worm
run

don’t
let the
ducks
get
you

do you
want
to stay
alive

ok
that’s
on you



Pain of Sadness
based on a collage by Max Ernst
Trenati B.

The medium hand was coming to
town with his tweezers.

The geese ran but
there was nowhere
to hide.

Monsters on every
corner.

I think one was a
leech
ready to suck their blood.

The ship in the back
solo.
It was probably for the sadness.



Ancestor
based on a New Guinean ancestor mask
Destiny S.

It’s like someone’s skeleton
The little squares are his bones

Its teeth are like pumpkin teeth
This is a body mask

Why did they make the nose too big?

Who did it smile at? Was it you?

Who did it laugh at?
Did you make a joke?



Bird Killer
based on a collage by Max Ernst
Rodrigo R.


I see bird heads on human bodies. A hand
with a knife. A leaf on a knife. Two houses.
A blanket drawing. Three shadows. The human
body has bird hands. Three sticks from
a ship. Three boxes. A long metal pole. The house
walls are cracked. The bird-human bodies
are chasing each other.


Life or Luck
based on a sculpture by Giacometti
Alex O.

It is a
palace or
is it a
dungeon with
skinny twigs
maybe a
playground
for the
rare golden
bird did
the tail
come from
the golden
bird for
luck or
did you
need the
blue and
red rare
birds for
your life
to be more
slow so
you live
longer



The Palace at 4PM
based on a sculpture by Giacometti
Leo S.

There is a bird dead
The bird has hung in
a box since winter in the door

A person was looking out the window
for a long time waiting for something
She stayed there till she died

A piece of an octopus tentacle that moves—
it kills at night
The house was quiet

A mirror watches every step
each person’s move
It breaks every minute somebody comes


The Long Lost Building Down Town
based on a sculpture by Giacometti
Leilani D.

I visit a
building it was
made of stick

It was made
of a bat,
mirror that slides

a vase sitting on
the ground a
pepper hanging

a box all
around the pepper
slides of wood
slide up and down

a symbol
of a town
at 4pm
the sun is down


Strange Meaning of Life
based on a sculpture by Giacometti
Jordan A.

It is 4pm
this strange palace
comes out at night

The bird comes out
The backbone shakes
The sculptures come alive

They just want to
stretch out their mission
to show me the

meaning of the truth
in my opinion
this means

that there may be
many doors to life
but some doors

have different feelings
but still why this
why doors to life?