Fantastic Ekphrastic Foraging Pigs
Usually, there is no theme at the Foraging Pigs. Anything goes. We get a ‘wild harvest’ of poems on all manner of subjects (which is, incidentally, what makes Wild Harvest a perfect title for the forthcoming anthology).
AJ doesn’t hold back as he shares exactly what he thinks about a painting of a black rectangle…
This month was the first time we’ve invited ekphrastic entries, although, of course, they weren’t compulsory. Most foragers offered at least one ekphrastic poem, some did two, and a hardy handful did all three.
At the start of the evening Liz Barnes, my partner in rhyme, and I, really had no idea how it would go, (nor, on a personal note, whether I’d still be married at the end of it: Will was is in charge of the tec and there was a laptop, screen and projector to contend with as well as the lighting and sound). Turns out, it was one of the best ever FPs.
I should probably point out that Liz has resisted the word ‘ekphrastic’ and, with her tongue firmly in her cheek, insisted on calling this evening our ‘ecclesiastical’ poetry night since we first planned it. Happily, the only religion is poetry. But she made her point loud and clear by inviting me ‘into the frame’ for the first poem. I became a work of art, so to speak. Thanks, Liz!
Ekphrasis, an ancient Greek rhetorical device which translates literally as ‘to speak out’ or ‘tell in full’, was originally used as a training exercise for students and orators to describe places or objects or people.
Over time, the definition narrowed and evolved to focus specifically on creative responses to visual art, in particular paintings.
Of course, being Foraging Pigs, people interpreted the brief even more broadly and creatively. We had poems that responded to sculpture, tapestry, newspaper pages, graffiti, photographs, Google search images, advertising (as well as paintings by Turner, Da Vinci, Klimt, Kahlo, Rego, Picasso and plenty of others). And how lovely it was to be able to listen to the words at the same time as seeing a visual representation of the object which had inspired them.
I wasn’t sure it was so lovely at the point at which my laptop decided it didn’t want to play by the rules either, and insisted on projecting my email inbox with arrangements for my next box league tennis match, but we managed to fix the problem and return to the poetry.
Peter Wood, August’s Top Truffler!
There were simply too many highlights to mention, and I would probably infringe all sorts of copyright if I shared the images that were sent to us, but it was an incredible night of poetry.
Peter Wood walked away as Top Truffler, snatching it at the end with his Blue Whale poem that had everyone laughin, but there were outstanding contributions from AJ, Isabel, Juliet, Rob, Tony, Lisa, Kathryn, Dave, Pauline and Harvey.
Top foraging, all!
And we’ll be back next month on the 24th September to celebrate our one year anniversary. With cake!