#TankaTuesday #Poetry Stars No. 257 | #EkphrasticPrompt

Posted on by Colleen M. Chesebro
The Crystal Ball is a charming painting from John William Waterhouse which features a plethora of influences from Renaissance architecture to British Pre-Raphaelites like Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. ~ via John William Waterhouse

Welcome to our weekly poetry stars’ celebration. This week’s challenge was to write our choice of syllabic poem, using the John William Waterhouse painting above as our inspiration. For this Ekphrastic challenge, we could choose a form from the cheat sheet or a syllabic form from the site at Poetscollective.org.

On January 25, 2022, WordPress is due to update to the 5.9 release of the editor. Read more: What’s New in WordPress 5.9. As usual, here at Word Craft Poetry, we will roll with the punches. Just be aware that things are going to get interesting.

Many thanks to everyone who joined in below:

1.ben Alexander9.Jules17.Kerfe
2.Reena Saxena10.The Versesmith18.kittysverses
3.Jude11.Yvette M Calleiro19.theindieshe
4.Marian12.Selma20.Ruth Klein
5.Veera13.Elizabeth21.D. Wallace Peach
6.Gwen Plano14.Balroop Singh22.Colleen Chesebro
7.Kavya Janani. U15.Annette Rochelle Aben23.D. Avery
8.Harmony Kent16.Robbie Cheadle24.You’re next!

This was a spectacular painting! There were so many points of view and possibilities for interpretation. The best part is that there are no right or wrong interpretations. This is the type of art I hope you will search for when you’re looking for poetic inspiration.

Like this piece of art, I believe our poetry, when left with different interpretations, takes on more layers of meaning.

Syllabic poetry truly shines with visual inspiration. Kerfe pointed me to some Ekphrastic challenges here: Visual Verse.org and the Ekphrastic Review at https://www.ekphrastic.net/ekphrastic-writing-challenges. Check them out!

Your poetry was so inspiring this week that it was hard to choose only one poem to feature. Here are a few that caught my eye:

Kerfe

The Versesmith

Robbie Cheadle

In the end, I went with Diana Peach’s tanka prose. This poem is an Idyll, which is one prose paragraph and one tanka, written in episodic narration (Poem Tale). See page 108 of Word Craft: Prose & Poetry to learn more.

“A Learned Girl”

She is fortunate to read at all. Her slender fingers stray from the pages, unblemished but for a random papercut. Beyond her window, other women toil until their skin toughens into leather, and raw knuckles wear down to bones. Their spines crack beneath the weight of necessity, poor lots destined from the day they were born. She is privileged. This she knows. Granted by happenstance her wish to learn the arts of anatomy and history and politics. To peruse through pages of poetry and philosophy, to dip her quill and tally accounts. She will excel in the learned world of power. But she is still a girl.

studies surrender
lost in red velvet daydreams
murmurs of passion
love’s silk breath blushes her cheeks
wishes in a crystal ball

© D. Wallace Peach

This week, I’ve asked Diana Peach to choose the Ekphrastic image for next month’s challenge. Please email your selection with credits to me at least a week before the challenge to Colleen@wordcraftpoetry.com. Thanks.

See you tomorrow for the new challenge!

58 thoughts on “#TankaTuesday #Poetry Stars No. 257 | #EkphrasticPrompt”

      1. I am! Keeping everything in my head keeps me occupied. Plus, we had a sick older kitty last week that definitely used up one of his lives but thankfully eating again.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. Thank you so much for the shout-out for my poem, Colleen. I loved the variety of responses. The painting was evocative with so many details to draw on. And I can’t wait to pick the next one! So immensely fun. Thanks for all the work you do to keep the challenges going. 🙂 ❤

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Congratulations to, Diana! Beautifully done.

    Yes, WordPress is on the move again with their 5.9 updates. I am thankful I made the decision to move EC to a self-hosted blog. Some of the comments in another post I read about FSE were not very complimentary about the change. Too much of a curve for many bloggers plus the minimalist idea is becoming boring.

    I started a new blog using WP.com since the one I closed down had not expired yet. I was lucky to get a decent theme for it.

    PS I also read where the Classic Editor will be around a lot longer, depending on how the blogger opts in.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Man, Franci this is going to be a mess, starting tomorrow. I don’t have a great feeling about this. I’ve checked out Wix… that is another option. We shall see. Send me the link to your .com blog. The minimalist look doesn’t work for much, that’s for sure. Fingers crossed! ❤

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  11. Great choice! I know it was hard to choose. Congratulations to Diana.

    I can’t believe WordPress is doing this again–OK, I believe it, but I expect more trouble. Simple seems to be a dirty word in their vocabulary. (Sigh) (k)

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    1. From what I read, it will be another learning curve on the blogs. Folks don’t have time to learn all their fancy stuff when this platform “promised” to be easy for everyone. That is not going to be the case. Fingers crossed we all get through this and can still connect. ❤

      Liked by 1 person

        1. I’ve been following this update for months, Diana. It’s not well received and makes blogging harder for those who just want to write and connect with others. Fingers crossed that it all goes well. ❤

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