Library

Week One

Here are some examples of poems that focus on the ordinary:

The Panther

Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by Stephen Mitchell)

His vision, from the constantly passing bars,

has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.

As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
the movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a center
in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.

Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly. -- An image enters in,
rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone.

Mildred's Umbrella.

Gertrude Stein

A cause and no curve, a cause and loud enough, a cause and extra a loud clash and an extra wagon, a sign of extra, a sac a small sac and an established color and cunning, a slender grey and no ribbon, this means a loss a great loss a restitution. 

A cause and no curve, a cause and loud enough, a cause and extra a loud clash and an extra wagon, a sign of extra, a sac a small sac and an established color and cunning, a slender grey and no ribbon, this means a loss a great loss a restitution. 

Week Two

Here are some examples of "ekphrastic" poems, or poems that respond to other arts:

This is an example of a poem in response to a painting. See the next link for a visual of the painting:

http://www.bookthug.ca/meditations-poems.php

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://uploads4.wikipaintings.org/images/georges-de-la-tour/the-hurdy-gurdy-player-with-a-dog.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/georges-de-la-tour/the-hurdy-gurdy-player-with-a-dog&h=2431&w=1576&sz=315&tbnid=HGnSbAwUO5v4iM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=58&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dgeorges%2Bde%2Blatour%2Bhurdy%2Bgurdy%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=georges+de+latour+hurdy+gurdy&usg=__agb7EczXkNLV-mGDfuz1cCCouOw=&docid=O5H8eJEvpuTxIM&sa=X&ei=8LraUdK5H_f64AOKroDgCQ&sqi=2&ved=0CC8Q9QEwAQ&dur=8220

Here is a poem that responds to a piece of sculpture:

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15814

Here is a poem that responds to music:

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19930

Here is a poem that responds to a piece of decorative ceramics: 

http://www.bartleby.com/101/625.html