JANUARY 25, 2024 BY GUILFORD ART LEAGUE

Writer’s Block Group Writes Ekphrastic Poems about GAL Show

Writer’s Block is an E.C. Adams Middle School club, advised by 7th grade ELA teacher Mr. Day, whose primary goal is to provide a forum for aspiring writers to gain inspiration and feedback from other aspiring writers. In addition to meeting weekly to practice and share writings, they utilize a website, which allows members to publish their work for an audience and give the gift of constructive feedback.

Recently, Writer’s Block has partnered with local Guilford poet Ed Lent, endeavoring to write ekphrastic poetry for the Guilford Arts League and the American Mural Project. The word ekphrasis comes from the Greek for the written description of a work of art produced as a rhetorical or literary exercise. Writer’s Block members worked with Mr. Lent on developing their ekphrastic poetry skills over the course of several weeks, writing about his paintings as well as other works of art.

On January 18th, the club visited the Guilford Community Center’s Menunkatuck Room to preview the upcoming Guilford Arts League 2024 Winter Show. There, members selected a piece of art to write an ekphrastic poem about, see some of their excellent work below. Afterwards, Mr. Lent and Mr. Day selected poems to be published alongside these works of art. Everyone is invited to the opening reception for this show on Tuesday, February 6, 5-7 PM.

OWEN BARDEN, BJORN JOHNSON AND ED LENT

MEET THE POETS AND THE POEMS from Mr. Day’s WRITERS BLOCK CLUB FROM ADAMS MIDDLE SCHOOL, WITH THEIR CHOSEN ART FROM THE GUILFORD ART LEAGUE’S WINTER SHOW.

Poet: Willow Polaz

Poem Title: Just a Memory

Art Title: Clearing Skies

Artist: Karen A. Wiesner

The cold air brushes my face

Like the kiss of a long-lost lover

And the scent of dainty flowers

Fills my nostrils

As the whistles of the waves

Remind me of the long walks

I used to have with my lover,

Her beauty unmatched

What I would do to see her again

But now the snow, patchy and weak,

Rests on the sand dunes

There for a moment

Gone in another

Poet Name: Lucy Bowers
Title of the Poem: Until
Title of the Art: First Date
Artist name: Lisa Helene

Until

You don’t know what you have,
until it’s gone.
You don’t appreciate your veins,
until they are swollen.
You can receive a compliment one hundred times but it doesn’t matter,
until you believe it’s true.
You don’t know if your personalities will collide,
until the first date.
You don’t know how beautiful the sky is,
until there’s fog.
But most of all,
You don’t know how much longer you have with them,
until it’s too late.

Poet Name: Iliana Buckhoff
Title of the Poem: Coming of a New Day
Title of the Art: Serenity
Artist Name: Rose Mary Gates

Coming of a New Day

A bright sun, lingering and illuminating the canvas of fresh snow.
Fresh powder weighing and resting on the branches of the weeping trees.
The once green, taken over by a thick blanket of white.

A bright pink subsiding,
transforming into the blue of a new day.

The crackling stream, thick and heavy, flowing through a tunnel of white.
The darkness of the water, lightened by the bright of the new day ahead.

Poet: Noah Stevenson

Poem Title: The Fallen Mushroom

Photography Title: Iron Mushroom

Artist: Louis Kelley

Hot summer days in the garden

flies and bugs drifting in the breeze

fungi grow in the humidity September gray

The brilliant white bulb swept off from a tree

its home and former glory

the consistency among the discord

Nature's rhythm maintains among the chaos

the slight imperfections

random is fate as it ebbs and flows

Poet Name: Paige Ellesio
Title of the Poem: Winter vs. Snow
Title of the Art: Sergeant Wimmer
Artist Name: Jeanette Wimmer

Winter vs. Snow

Winter is as slow as the beat in my heart
Summer makes my heart beat faster than I fall
And every flower blooms in spring
Waiting for what the summer will bring

Growth only happens when you breathe
Moments only inspire when you believe
Summer glows with the sun
Winter blows with the moon

Wind throws me through
Still water makes my reflection blue
Memories burst with the pollen
As I remember the winter fun

Goodbye, Snowy Days
Goodbye, Sunny Days

Poet Name: Chess Guidone
Title of the Poem: The Climb
Title of the Art: Ramifications
Artist Name: Denise Casey

The Climb

Sprouting from the ceiling
As we fall towards the vines
Beating
Pulsing
Sorting
Emotions of our time
Uphill towards the earth
Downhill towards the sky
Veins of all our past
Wait and stay behind
As we ever do ever
Try and try to climb

Poet Name: Emma James
Title of the Poem: Through The Woods
Title of the Art: Winter Hemlocks
Artist Name: Nancy A Chapman

Through The Woods

A walk through the woods
Trees standing tall
Tall even with the fighting wind
Even with the birds in its branches,
A subtle crunch of snow with every step
Opening closed eyes,
So little
And yet so much.
On a walk through the woods
Different from the last
Yet the same to
Wind still fighting to make the trees sway
But they still stand
Tall as ever
Unmoving against the relentless wind
But with new eyes,
A new view
With so much more to see
All so beautiful
And quiet
So wonderfully quiet
Yet so loud
So beautifully loud.

Poet Name: Eric Lowe
Title of the Poem: Just a Bit Old
Title of the Art: Sky
Artist Name: Mark Weaver

Just a Bit Old

At the ripe age of 113
You start losing things
First your wife
Then your 22nd dog
But I still have some eyesight left
It’s the right amount to see my favorite place in the world
I think it’s this way
As I walk into a tree, I realize it’s the other way
I’m just a bit old.

Poet Name: Owen Martineau
Title of the Poem: The Clear Ocean Sky
Title of the Art: Sky Pastel
Artist Name: Mark Weaver

The Clear Ocean Sky

The sky is a bright blue hinted with airy clouds.
The ocean’s grass, dry like the desert’s sand.
The wind calls out, muffled by crashing waves.
The ocean, vast and dark, the sea’s bark.
The storm bellos and creaks, all so our days do not become bleak.
The storm approaches, eclipsing the sun, and blackening the sky.
Let’s enjoy while it lasts, the sky, fragile like glass.

Poet Name: Jules Salomonsson
Title of the Poem: The Man’s Boots
Title of the Art: The Pollinator II
Artist Name: Jeanette Wimmer

The Pollinator II

There is this man, nobody knows his deal
There is this man, nobody knows his favorite meal
Everyone can spot him by his large, rusty boots,
Yet who is this man without his boots?

There is this man, he tries to answer
There is this man, he doesn’t know the answer
He doesn’t know his favorite food, or when it is noon
He doesn’t know his worst fear, or if it could be a mirror

There is this man, he doesn’t have a clue
There is this man, who just wants to be left alone

Poet Name: Lily Scoggin
Title of the Poem: Memories
Title of the Art: First Snow
Artist Name: Jan Vanderburg

First Snow

Whispering wind
Rushing through the trees,
Speaking memories back
From long ago,
overflowing me,
forcing me to my knees.

Glancing up, snowy tips of the trees
floating back to meet me.

I flee