Another short form for NaPoWriMo: The De Chiriku!

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Giorgio de Chirico, The Enigma of a Day, 1914

 

lone sarcophagus
even shadows have shadows
stone men search the sky

 

I am officially coining a new poetic form in honor of the painting of De Chirico, the De Chiriku! I’m sort of joking about the title of the form, but since it’s short and fun, I thougt it might be an interesting way to write a poem for the mad month of April, while enjoying some amazing artwork at the same time.

The process is simple: choose a De Chirico painting, and write a haiku about how the images speak to you. You’ll find that many of the paintings include references to mythology and archetypal symbols, which might provoke visceral responses.

Another process I tried was to free-write for twenty mintues while looking at a De Chirico painting. I then gleaned images and thoughts from the free-write to compose a free-verse poem. This is my usual method of writing, although typically I’m not looking at a painting. I often free-write about dream images, writing prompts, and memories. The work comes out of these stream of consciousness musings, and after several revisions a poem begins to emerge.

De Chirico was an Italian surrealist painter. He knew the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire while he lived in Paris, and was also involved with the Dada movement. You can read more about his life and influences at the MoMa website.

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Filed under About poetry and process, creativity and inspiration, poems

Tags: art, creativity, De Chirico, De Chiriku, free-write, inspiration, painting, poems, poetry, surrealism, the writing process