Ekphrasis in Rose

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Apr
12

Burnished blandishment. Red go gold, the volcano denies the void. Suddenly, too, he sees the last blinking lights go down, and the nova, shrinking into a flare from so far, so far. The borders are barren, but so it goes. The portal in the center is the center of the universe, in micro, all time and event bursting in circles, so that it is barely contained by the gold heart of the larger bit of everything. Kandinsky does his miracle, and it’s the smaller spots dotting the black that truly ask what musical chaos birthed its being, that ask how important to burn a hot or cold existence. So it goes, pink in rose, that all folly we may have earned is erased by the grace of our extant humility.

Hey, guys, welcome back to this humble blog. What just happened was a bit of earnest ekphrasis based on Wasily Kandinsky’s “Pink in Rose.” Ekprhasis is the verbal description of a visual work of art (real or not!). I can recall a college class wherein I first learned about ekphrasis, something about a beautiful description of a tapestry in Leucippe and Clitophon. It stayed with me, though, the description and the idea. I find the crossing of artistic mediums to be a beautiful, invigorating thing. Ekphrasis is such an early, inspiring version of interdisciplinary interaction, I have to mention it here at the WBN blog. It’s pertinent for all writers to be inspired, and inspired by stimuli of all sorts. I’ve harped on this point before, but today’s post was a bit of exercise in the practice of what I’m preaching.

So, guys, what works of art have inspired you? Any Old Guitarists or Rothkos lingering in your memory? If you have any old artistic impressions cooped up in your minds, do post it below, but in ekphrastic form, with a link to the work. Let’s have some fun with this, guys, and stay sharp. See you in the art gallery.

Christopher Savage is a writer living in Austin. He writes poetry, short stories, non-fiction, film scripts, comic books, and one long novel, among other things. He is the founder of the Boho Coco literary zine and blog and is currently attending UT Austin as a Sociology major, English minor. He is survived by his cat Cashew.