Exposed: Ekphrastic Poetry & Bad or Boring Art
Robin Reid Drake
January 7, 2022
Art will always expose the artist, and a poet’s eye is the best tool to find hidden truths beneath the surface.
Source Material:
- “White Zombie” and “Still Life: ˈblæknəs” by Bryan Byrdlong
Journal Reflections: What is the value of sitting with a work of art or a movie that you don’t like? How can you learn about or strengthen your tastes or your beliefs through experiencing things that don’t align with them? - White Zombie (1932 film starring Bela Lugosi)
- Abstract Painting by Ad Reinhardt
Prewriting: What are some movies or works of art that are popular or famous that you find boring, distasteful or problematic? List them.
Prompt: After reading Bryan Byrdlong’s poems “White Zombie” and “Still Life: ˈblæknəs,” choose an example of a movie or work of art that is very popular but you find boring, distasteful or problematic. Watch the movie or sit with the artwork and begin to write an ekphrastic poem. Perhaps it will shed light on something within the movie or art that the creator did not necessarily intend to put there but is apparent to you. Or perhaps it will reflect a response from your perspective that breaths new life into the movie or art.
Robin Reid Drake
Robin Reid Drake (she/they) is a Chicago (Kiikaapoi, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Bodéwadmiakiwen & Myaamia lands) based writer, artist and educator originally from Greensboro, North Carolina (Eno, Sappony & Shakori lands). White, trans & queer, Drake is passionate about combining abolitionist somatics, creative practice and popular education to heal lines of violence in herself and her communities. She holds an MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a BA in writing from the University of North Carolina at Asheville and certification in meditation & mindfulness instruction from MNDFL Studio in New York City. Drake’s written work can be found in DREGINALD, Palimpsest, WUSSY, Understory Quarterly, and Foglifter Press’ Home Is Where You Queer the Heart, among others.