LitSIG explores ekphrastic poetry

Don’t know what ekphrastic poetry is? Read this review of the most recent LitSIG meeting by Michele McKay Aynesworth and check out the submissions from members on the Dropbox site.

Cézanne. Still Life with Skull

AATIA’s Literary Special Interest Group (LitSIG) met on Saturday, September 17th, to share notes on ways in which poetry and paintings or photographs can “translate” each other. Eduardo Aparicio provided a link to a Dropbox website where the group’s contributions can be seen.

The discussion of this unusual topic was lively and thought-provoking. Eduardo and Michele Aynesworth used the occasion to share poems of their own. Eduardo told the group his poems and photographs reflected a theme of loss and death. Michele chose a Cézanne painting, Still Life with Skull, to inspire her short poem, and said she had found the exercise a great way to explore a work of art.

Members also shared their news and discussed ideas for future meetings. LitSIG will be co-hosting a reading on September 30th at Malvern Books and proposes to hold the regular November 19th meeting there as well. That meeting will focus on “nuts and bolts” issues such as how to find a good, publishable work to translate.

Almost everyone at the meeting said they are planning to attend at least one of the upcoming ALTA  and ATA conferences. Marian Schwartz announced that she will be giving the Marilyn Gaddis Rose Lecture for the Literary Division at the ATA conference.

Michele McKay Aynesworth