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| Dancer and Tree - Tad Richards |
From Tad (drawing as well as prompt):
I decided as I drove into town today that I would base my prompt on something I saw or heard. I was going in to pick up a print that I had exhibited at a local gallery, and I thought, why not an ekphrastic poem? "An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning."
Are we then to write a poem on this image? an Ekphrastic poem? Or our own image the same? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteOn this image.
DeleteBarren - her life tied up in knots
ReplyDeleteshe sat upon the bench in despair
The tree behind her reflected her thoughts
This was not the existence she sought
A broken dancer beyond repair
Barren - her life tied up in knots
No longer young all her life she fought
For a space where nubile bodies danced so fair
The tree behind her reflected her thoughts
Sadly she regarded what she had been taught
to perform with such skill and flair
Barren - her life tied up in knots
As she wondered did her life have a plot
If she even had one to repair
The tree behind her reflected her thoughts
Should she or should she not
Did she even chance to dare?
The tree behind her reflected her thoughts
Barren - her life tied up in knots
is quite beautiful. I really love it. I will read it aloud later to Paul and see how it does aloud. But I read it three times I liked it so much.
DeleteWow. Awesome villanelle. I personally hate ekphrastic poetry. I don't like being told what to write about but this picture leaves so much to the imagination. I hope we all get differing takes on this.
Deleteit reads well aloud. actually all of the poems this week read well aloud so far.
DeleteBonnie, This poem seems kind of of sad but in its sadness is beauty. I really enjoyed listening to it.
DeleteInteresting and well done as an interpretation as well as the verse form.
DeleteThis is wonderful. I'd like to see the meter be more regular. But I love it.
ReplyDeleteI am the tree
ReplyDeletethe tree is me
we sway as one
in our dance of Autumn
take me timber in your
mighty arms
that we may dance
even closer than before
open the door
to evermore
that we may pirouette
and demi plié as a
surrealistic unit
wonder as I do
that you cannot raise
your supple legs
drinking ever drinking
while the wind sings
through your branches
the song that you dance
with me...
oh wow! this is awesome. lovely gentle imagery that draws the reader into the scene. well done!
DeleteThis could be the end of the poem I am working on. LOL. I may have to steal from it. Well done.
Deletevery imaginative with lots of imagery! I love it!! I enjoyed listening to it.
DeleteVery sweet, like you!
DeleteLove this one too.
ReplyDeleteWith my mind on my Fairy Tale I decided to try another Fairy Tale in verse. Not as good as the other, but it's a start. Any suggestions are welcome.
ReplyDeleteDANCER AND TREE
The dancer sat pretty, her eyes on the tree.
Why won't you, she asked, come dancing with me?
The tree stood so still, not once did it stir.
The dancer sat waiting for movement toward her.
She perched on the bench, was patient all day,
and looked at the trunk in a questioning way.
Why won't you try dancing? she asked once again.
If you would just dance, you'd be Lord of the Glen.
The tree finally spoke, shook all if its leaves
Its words like a whisper that bellows and heaves.
What makes you think I'm not Lord of the Glen?
I once was a sapling but that was back when
the grasses were seed and the forest was new
but we settled and prospered while all of us grew.
We grew up to the sky and down into the earth
took root and matured and valued our worth.
The dancer sat tranquil as still as the tree,
so sure she was right as right as could be.
But how can you rule if you stand there so still?
You must learn to dance, I’ll teach you, I will.
The tree shook its leaves as if in a laugh.
You don’t understand. No, not even half
of the things that are needed, and what is a dance.
Is it moving your feet or is it a chance
to express what you’re feeling, to sway and to swing.
See dancing is movement, it’s not just one thing.
I planted my roots so my children could grow,
so I taught them to dance, and I taught them to flow.
Now look up at my leaves. No, don’t you look down!
Look up. Look up now, at my leaves, they’re my crown!
Watch them wave lightly in wind or a breeze.
Watch them move gently, they’re dancing with ease.
The dancer stood up and looked toward the top.
The movement of branches and leaves, did not stop.
She raised up her hands and swayed just like that,
heard the wind’s quiet music that moved like a cat.
The dancer and tree moved together as one.
They danced to the moon and they danced to the sun.
The dancer felt hampered by dancing in boots.
She wanted to plant herself deep with her roots.
I want to stay here, plant my roots by your tree,
where I can dance just like you and be settled and free.
The tree shook its branches, reached out, filled the space.
Your roots do not have to just stay in one place.
Give to your children your freedom to move.
You don’t need to stay here with me just to prove
that roots can grow deep to give children their home.
You can dance freedom dances wherever you roam.
The music of birds, of the wind, of the sea,
took the dancer off dancing away from the tree.
But she knew from then on, like the growing of fruits
that tree was still dancing, right down to its roots.
totally awesome!!! I loved the rhyming and the beat and everything else.... good job!!!
DeleteWow, Victoria. This is wonderful..
DeleteA very special and wonderful sory and poem, and so nicely done. Perhaps the last two lines could be said differently but convey the same message. The word Fruits seems somehow out of place here and it seems to me the line could be stronger somehow. But the poem as a whole is so good it surely does not matter.
DeleteWow. Now I don't know if I can write one. This is beautiful.
ReplyDeletetotally awesome and wonderful!!!! love it! love it! love it!
DeleteI don't really know that it needs any revision at all, but if it does, maybe the penultimate stanza. If there's a way you could get around saying "give children..." twice.
DeleteSince it's a "Fairy Tale" and not just a poem, I think I need more, like descriptions of the dancer and tree, more "colorful" language so to speak.
DeleteI think it's complete as it stands.
DeleteIf it's ok with you, I'd like to print this and put it next to the picture when I display it for the art tour,
DeleteI would be honored.
DeleteThe dancer:
ReplyDeleteTeach me the truth of stillness. Let me know
Xylem and phloem coursing from my roots,
Let me feel spring with new-curled leaves and shoots,
Band me with rings to mark each year I grow.
The tree:
Show me the way to freedom from the cruel
Strictures of nature: when the wind blows west
To east, let me bend east to west, to rule
My destiny, choose when to move or rest.
I love this. I think I like the dancer's stanza better, especially the last line.
DeleteThis is very nice. I love it.
Deletelove this one! that first line just pulled me in and left me feeling ...I can't even find a word to describe the feeling! teach me the truth of stillness... wow!
DeleteThis is not what it should be, and I know it. It has its moments, but I know there are places where the line is forced in order to make a rhyme. Look at Victoria's poem for comparison.
DeleteI'm working on a monstrous project - a blog that I'm turning into a series of books about jazz in the 50s and 60s. Early on, I quoted drum legend Max Roach talking about the great piano player George Wallington, who played in his first bebop group on 52nd Street. Roach said that Wallington knew how to "stay outta the way" when that was required, whereas a piano genius like Bud Powell sometimes didn't. Victoria's rhymes are clever, they're fun, they add a life and a lilt to the poem, and they know how to stay outta the way when that's required.
Tad, I like your poem a lot. Like Bonnie words elude me...
DeleteI like the way you characterize the two and the contrast between them Sure, you could improve it with work, it but it's still good the way it is.
DeleteAround and around she whirls,
ReplyDeletedoing a dance made just for girls.
This tree draws her like a moth to a flame,
as she twists up and down in a dancing game.
So great to be free in a moment of time
to not have to care for reason or rhyme.
Like an electron that circles an atoms core
she dances with abandon and looks for more.
It's nice to be one with fun...
Terrific effort!!! I like beginning of the second stanza the best. good job for the prompt
Deletenice job! I really like the second verse a lot. that first line says it all.
DeleteNice motion, I saw stillness you saw moment. Interesting.
DeleteI love the metaphor of the electrons and atoms. Nice job!
DeletePortrait in Time
ReplyDeleteThis tree and I are here together
sharing our selves in this gentle space
contemplating the grass and clouds
reflecting the peace that is here to be found.
Silently we communicate
One with the other in wordless joy
one with the earth, the sky, each other
here in this moment of endless time.
One is rooted the other is still
And here we both are, but one will leave,
and the other will stay to hold the peace,
while the one who leaves will carry it forth.
I liked the colors and he softness of it. It seems a gentle picture and very peaceful.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis is a very lovely poem. It fits the prompt delightfully. I enjoyed reading it. Sorry I didn't see it until now.
Deletenicely done. I see you saw yourself as the dancer. interesting.
DeleteLike Bonnie, I really like it that you took on the role of dancer. I hadn't thought to do that. I like the way it worked out!
DeleteMany Thanks! I do appreciate the comments very much.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOur Poet friend from the site where we met, Got Poetry, asked me to post his poem about the prompt picture too, so I told him I would, and here it is just as he wrote it. He always went by Omegapaff however his name is Paul Fowler
ReplyDeleteMISS BLUE SKY
the sun creates a halo around her beautiful head
a book in her lap that must be read
the old tree leans in the breeze and moans. she stops to listen and thinks about her student loans
and the price of mobile phones
but the bench and the light and the tree are free
maybe painted ladies can step out of the frame and be free.
Nice contribution Paul. I enjoyed reading it. I like how the old tree moans as she is thinking mundane things. Perhaps the tree can read her mind...
Deletebeautiful Paul! you captured the essence of the picture in this lovely write.
DeleteAwesome interpretation of the picture. Tasha, you should try to get Paul to post his own. He can log in as "Anonymous" or with just his name if he wants.
DeleteThanks on Paul's behalf. I have sent your comments on to him, verbatim.
DeleteThanks on Paul's behalf. I have sent your comments on to him, verbatim.
Delete