POETRY WORKSHOP
GOT THE BLUES
Alison Chisholm explores a poem inspired by a piece of artwork
Alison Chisholm
ON THE EDGE for Ciaran
He sits on the edge of his bed in the blue gloom, alert yet apprehensive, a bag of fears.
Half-naked, half formed, he aches for a future he must create himself.
His eyes fix on his desk, where a pool of light spills white, intimidates; laptop, lamp, pen witnesses to his insecurities.
A gulf looms between the desk and him, a void in the blue to be traversed.
Dare he cross it? Dare he be once more, face his rough-hewn art; birth himself anew?
Ekphrastic poetry, inspired by a work of art, is enthralling to write and intriguing to read. It takes a second bite at the cherry of inspiration, with the additional angle of interpretation. If you’ve enjoyed Keats’ Ode on a Grecian Urn, Anne Sexton’s The Starry Night or Shelley’s Ozymandias you will appreciate the delight of ekphrasis, whether or not you’ve seen the artwork about which the poem is written.
The inspiration for Neil Zoladkiewicz, a drama teacher from New Malden, Surrey, was a picture. He writes of his poem: ‘It is based on a photograph by one of my ex-students for his 2nd year Photography degree. He sent me the virtual exhibition as I couldn’t attend. He plays a lot with colour washes so the room is blue but the desk is in an alcove of white light.’