The Winter 2007 issue of Prairie Schooner offers several ekphrasis poems–
1) “Artemis to Aphrodite” (Parthenon frieze) by Eloise Klein Healy
2) “A New Way of Thinking about Space” (Giotto’s cross) by Beth Bachmann
3) “Garden Smiles” (what’s seen from a museum cafe) by Katherine Soniat
4) “Racy Diorama at the Natural History Museum” (need we say more?) by Anna George Meek
5) “Icons” (mosaic figurines) by Phyllis Hoge Thompson
Beth Bachmann’s poem is one of a stunning group of four stark poems–what I would call a suite–published together in this one issue. The suite has no overarching title; the individual poems are not numbered. The poems do not progressively advance a single story. Rather, each spare poem sits alone next to the others. The words, images, and tone within each poem glance off those within the other poems. The final poem is devastating, retrospectively transforming the entire suite into a poignant tragedy. Here, then, Bachmann employs ekphrasis to provide variation within a group of several poems.
