Ekphrastics
 

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Here's my humble ekphrastic of the thread on GT entitled, "Poetry Forums". It is borne from tongue and cheek. The "Eyes" and "Wees" are purely fictitious. The "Who" is Seussian in spirit.



Am I dying?
Are we dying?
It feels like we’re dying!
We are definitely dying compared to how we were ten years ago.
(Many have died)
I wonder why we’re dying?
If I die where will I go?
Please! I don’t want to go.
Someone say it isn’t so.
Will we even know?
Should I care?
Is there anything I can do?
What did I miss?
Am I we?
Where are we headed?
Who is it?
What are we waiting for?
Everybody knows.
Nobody’s nose is honking up the right tree.
I's all in the trunk.
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Eckphrastic of Moonan's Eckphrastic

He thought dying was preoccupation,
Distraction, inaction, putrefaction
Sang out confusion, an extrusion
Of errors and the death delusion
All of which, in his tribulation,
Reviewing his own life station
Revealed the errors of our nation
On its Covid imposed vacation.

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Given more thought, this thread most likely doesn't conform to the definition of Drills & Amusement but my quick, reckless thought was that it did. Mornings are dangerous and reckless for me. Thoughts skitter and imagination is blind.

If you cherrypick some of the comments in the "Poetry Forums" thread over on GT to include just the commentary speculating on the relative health/lifespan of various poetry forums of the digital age you might see better the genesis of this ekphrastic. It reminds me of another dangerous thought: all poetry is ekphrastic. I'll apologize for that tomorrow.

Ralph, thanks for the zing. Mirrors are not my favorite form of feedback but they do provide light.
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Yes, every poem is an amazingly complex ekphrastic because every word in it can be peeled back through centuries of layering and nuance answering to each other. As my man Emerson says, words are "fossil poetry."