Two Ekphrastic Poems

Loving That Land O’ Lakes Girl” by Eric Gansworth

& W. H. Auden, "Musée des Beaux Arts" (p. 1055)

Today’s words & concepts• Some Poetic Vocabulary• allusion• metaphor• persona• simile• turn• Some Poetic Structures• descriptive • narrative• dramatic • imitative• reflective (meditative)

• Some Poetic Kinds• ekphrastic poem• dramatic monologue

“Loving That Land O’ Lakes Girl”by Eric Gansworth

• She is the first lesson • in love for many Indian• boys, all tanned hide• and feathers, features straight • out of Hollywood, but she lights• the spark for those red boys• and probably for some• black and white and brown• ones as well, for anyone• who learns her • tricks, really, and they're• not that hard• to master.

• She stares out at all from a burst

• of sunrise and lush flora kneeling,

• hands suspended before her,

• framing her bosom with infinitely

• smaller versions of herself.

First release her from the cardboardlandscape she inhabits, thencarefully remove the product placement in front of her,and just below, fold her spineback, and back again without regard to the vertebraeyou snap along the way.

Carefully position herand her magical side emergestransforming those round kneesinto ample breasts, ditching her old franchise for Hooters, as she flashes you a smile and so much more.

She is by all accounts"like buddah," all slickskinned, sweet and soft,lightly salted,and when you touch her you leave an impressionthat stays until the next hot thing comes along.

Is it any wonder Indian women have grown tough and strongwith competition like that?

W. H. Auden, "Musée des Beaux Arts" (p. 1055)

Brueghel’s The Kermess