While at the AWP conference in Chicago, Tammy and I were able to swing by the Art Institute of Chicago. It was a great experience, and the art inspired quite a few poems. So I thought it might be nice to have an ekphrastic prompt today.

For ekphrastic poetry, poets use art as a prompt for their poetry. Often, the poems are a response or an elaboration of the original art.

Here are your ekphrastic prompts:

• In Bed The Kiss, by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
• The Shootings of May Third 1808, by Francisco de Goya
• Moses, by Frida Kahlo
• Nighthawks, by Edward Hopper

Here's my ekphrastic attempt (using Nighthawks):

"Nighthawks"

-after Edward Hopper

You couldn't tell me before our dinner,
so I didn't know what to do after
except wander the streets without an aim--
how we originally found this town
with its bars and libraries full of clowns--
and I passed the alleyways and the same
windows you passed. I followed you under
the full moon and city lights, thinking you
might be as lost as I was. If you're lost,
I'll never be found, I'll never be found.
In this whole city, I'm the only clown,
because I can see you making the most
of our time apart. My heart is so blue
watching you strike lightning and call thunder.

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Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer and check out my personal blog, My Name Is Not Bob.

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