Drawing by Susan C. Price
San Francisco
By Eric Meub
San Francisco
By Eric Meub
[Originally published on February 10, 2018]
She was an athlete, finely tuned.
How fat with pastries she ballooned:
a courtesan to raise an itch
upon the impotently rich.
She flaunts her most expansive moods
at supplicants her price excludes;
the castoffs act as counterparts
to troubadours who left their hearts.
But formerly her fluent tongue
enticed the vulnerable and young.
She promised polo shirt physiques
and hothouse roses on our cheeks.
Today I’m just a souvenir,
a postcard wishing I was here.
| Copyright © 2018, 2020 by Susan C. Price & Eric Meub Eric Meub, architect, lives and practices in Pasadena, the adopted brother of the artist, Susan C. Price. They respect, in their different ways, the line. |
A question for poets Michael H. Brownstein & Maik Strosahl: Eric Meub has written dozens of acclaimed poems inspired by works of art their creator, Susan C. Price, terms merely “drawings,” turning them into portraits the drawings seem (to his creative imagination) to represent. My question for each of you: how appropriately do you think the term “ekphrastic poetry” applies to Eric’s “poetry & portraits” poems?
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed everyone of the works in this series. I don't always comment, but I do enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteEkphrastic poetry is based on artwork--isn't her sketches artwork? I think aso, and I enjoy them al lot.
Michael, I take it that you use "ekphrastic" very loosely, if it includes literally ANY poetry that is "based on artwork." Fair enough.
DeleteSo artwork based on a poem would be called Ekphrastic
DeleteArt.
So, “ekphrastic” is symmetrical as well! (I THINK that’s the appropriate term, but I’d appreciate being corrected.)
DeleteMy muse suggested a correction (at about 3:54 a.m. Eastern time today). “Reciprocal,” or perhaps “reverse symmetrical,” like a mirror image. I was struck (in my dream) how the image of a right hand in a mirror can be fitted with a left-hand glove....
DeleteI was trying yesterday to draw a connection between the two creations and was wondering as to what that connection was. I did not have time to dig (yet) as to whether the drawing had some special meaning to those who would have a connection to San Francisco. I, personally like to read the poem, appreciate it separately first, then look to the art piece to search for even deeper meaning that they might offer together. But, just because I cannot see the connection does not mean it is not Ekphrastic poetry. Sometimes it is just a feeling that comes from looking at the art piece that starts me off on a tangent someone else may not get from looking at it.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I am concerned, the poem is a successful piece without the drawing and if the poet was inspired by the drawing to create that poem, it would be considered an Ekphrastic poem.
I would love to get into Erik’s mind a bit to learn what connection he saw though.
Maik, while I don't know for a definite fact, I am personally 99% certain that the artist did NOT make her drawing with San Francisco in mind. I have at least two reasons for my belief: (1) I take Susan seriously when she refers to these artworks as "drawings" (and not portraits). (2) Many of Eric's other poetic portraits have been on imagined individuals so far removed from California, or from worlds that Susan is likely to visit herself, he has firmly established his penchant for letting Susan's drawings take him wherever his creative imagination tugs him.
Delete