Macleans College writers inspired by visit from expert poet
Posted on May 23, 2024
The Macleans Writer’s Club was privileged to be visited by Margaret Moores, a published poet and expert on writing ekphrasis – poetry that responds to visual art.
Margaret came to talk to the club as a representative of the New Zealand Poetry Society, an organisation that supports poets around New Zealand and runs an annual youth poetry competition. This year, the competition theme is ekphrasis.
Ekphrasis is not a common form of poetry and many of the Macleans College Writer’s Club members were unfamiliar with how to get started. Moores was able to help the students understand different approaches for writing in this genre, using examples from a diverse range of poems and visual art, including sculptures, oil paintings and even an Egyptian mummy.
The students all enjoyed learning about this unique form of poetry and have been inspired to create their own ekphrasis to enter the competition. Below is a vivid and dramatic ekphrastic poem written by Macleans College students, Haran Thirumeni, in Rutherford House. The English Faculty and the community look forward to student poetry that will be entered into the 2024 youth poetry competition.
“Dissonance” by Haran Thirumeni (Rutherford House) (inspired by Nymphéas, 1915 - Claude Monet)
Early in the morning, before the lake ripples awake,
the flower has her blooming tribute
lily pad blankets to keep her warm
then the outlines of algae to keep her company
she will watch still for the meanwhile
and even though lakeweed children try to wake it
and even though the reflection in the sky moves with them
it’s the patient stroke that captures it
then the quiet of white canvas
and the right sun in his eyes
that discolours the pond an easterly yellow
it’s the right paint that makes her a flower
and her friends a yellowish-green
and the weeds of her feet to grow tangled
then the lake to start moving
for the sky to become noise
and for lake ripples to awake.