Sugaring the Snow with Poetry

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette. The word ekphrasis, that’s E-K-P-H-R-A-S-I-S, ekphrasis, refers to a literary description of a work of visual art that brings that work to life. It’s a verbal representation of a visual representation. You might think of the poet John Keats in his Ode on a Grecian Urn. That’s a poem that describes images on an urn. And there’s a remarkable new book of ekphrastic poetry. It’s called Ensnaring the Moment on the Intersection of Poetry and Photography, and it is a sumptuous collection of poems by more than a hundred well-known poets, each writing about a particular photograph. And granted, it’s a gorgeous volume. The list of contributors reads like a who’s who of poetry. Ocean Vuong, Nikki Finney, W.S. Merwin, Ada Limon, Katie Ford, Ellen Bass, the list goes on and on and on.

And the book opens with an essay by Leah Ullman, the editor of the book. She’s an art critic who’s written extensively for Art in America and the LA Times. And the essay really makes you think about the connection between poetry and photography, how both of those compress time and distill experience and bear witness to single fleeting moments. And I’m going to give you an example of that. This is a short poem in the book by Rebecca Lindenberg. And with her permission, I’m going to read it. It’s called Things That Lose by being photographed. One night, when the moon is very full and sugaring the snow all over our backyard, there we are, a bearded man and a small woman in blue rubber boots, dancing slowly to no music, while a penny-colored pit bull picks up first one foot, then the other, trying to tell us to let her inside.

And of course, Grant, that was based on a photograph, you know, a snapshot from somebody’s life. And I think this poem is such a beautiful example of what Ullman says about how poetry is a verbal portal to the visual, and the visual is a portal to the past. It’s just a gorgeous book, and it’s one that poetry lovers are going to want to keep on their bedside table, for sure. That sounds lovely, Martha. And I love this idea that a great poet can see more in something visual than I can and describe it to me with their brilliance. And in that way, they helped me get to the point of the original piece, the original art, the visual art, you know, because they’re going to have skills that I just don’t have.

Yeah, that’s a really good point. I mean, some of these are just the most mundane snapshots in the world, but you view it through a poet’s eyes and it not only is described in such a beautiful way, but also they extract meaning from it. So it’s a wonderful book and it’s called Ensnaring the Moment on the Intersection of Poetry and Photography, edited by Leah Ullman. We will link to that book on our website. And as always, we’d love to hear about what you’re reading or what you’ve written. You can email us words@waywordradio.org or call or text our toll-free number 877-929-9673.