(Statements below are guidelines to which I sometimes make exceptions.)

I set up this blog to draw attention to ekphrastic poems, to consolidate some resources about ekphrasis, and to share my activities and insights while writing my own ekphrastic poems. One wellspring of my interest in ekphrasis was my family: my father was a commercial artist, and my mother was an English teacher.

The Greek term “ekphrasis” (”speaking out” or “telling in full”) has acquired various meanings throughout the centuries. Some of those meanings have been: a device of classical rhetoric; highly descriptive speech or writing; writing (especially poetry) inspired primarily by visual art; poetry inspired by other kinds of art.

This blog focuses on poetry responding to or inspired by stationary, silent artworks upon which the poet can gaze for a long time: drawings, paintings, prints, photographs, statues, public monuments, pottery, ceramics, fine jewelry, tapestries, and elements of architecture.

Blog comments that are off-topic or that may be breaking the law will be removed. Profanity in blog comments is evaluated case-by-case, and may or may not be removed.

I want this blog to respect the rights of other writers and artists. I don’t reproduce images on my blog without consent. I do establish hyperlinks in order to give credit to others and to encourage the purchase of poetry books and journal subscriptions. If you think that any of my posts, pages, or hyperlinks are inappropriate, please let me know so that I can reconsider them.

ABOUT THIS BLOG’S DESIGN

This blog’s “Fleur De Lys” theme was designed by Sadish Balasubramanian.

I chose this design not because of the historical or political symbolism of the fleur-de-lys, but because my first name is French, and because the first ekphrastic poem of mine ever to be published in a literary journal was written in response to a Monet painting exhibited in Paris.