Ekphrasis: Poems in the Art Community

 The Kalevala, a series of poems originally performed in the oral tradition, inspired Akseli Gallen-Kallela.  

The story of Lemminkainen is part of the Finnish epic poem, the Kalevala. Originally oral storytelling, 12,000+ verses were recorded in writing and published by Elias Lönnröt in 1845.  These creation stories, adventures, and magic charms have been famously illustrated by the Finnish visual artist, Akseli Gallen-Kallela.  

This painting focuses on the Kalevala's character Lemminkäinen,  a great warrior and womanizer, who dies following his attempt to kill the Swan of Tuonela in the realm of the dead. His mother drags the black river for the dismembered pieces of her son and puts him back together.  For Lemminkainen's mother, it works. He lives again, and unfortunately, he has not learned his lesson.  

As often as visual artists illustrate and enhance stories, poets will describe and amplify visual art work. This type of poetry is called ekphrasis. It's a Greek word that means description. A famous example of an ekphrastic poem is "Archaic Torso of Apollo" by Ranier Maria Rilke. You can read it here: https://poets.org/poem/archaic-torso-apollo

In my book, Surface Displacements, the poem, "Kalevala Viidetoista Runo/ Poem 15," is an ekphrastic poem in response to the Gallen-Kallela image.  Any mother who has lost a child can relate to the impulse to bring the child back to life.  In my poem, I speak from the perspective of the mother.  Here's an excerpt:

I take him back not into my body

that conceived, received, and raised this one

but back to his own. To the sun

...

with a needle, I pierce the broken ends

and pull my thread.

I turn the edges, commend to God.

Say, remember him.

Take this cold back to the reaching ice

seize this body with new breath.

I shake the heart to make it start ticking

and drop it into place

put back the ribs and pull up the skin.

On the stones, he gasps.

Where I have wept and pounded

on the shore where I have assembled him.  

Within the arts community, writers, composers, musicians and visual artists inspire each other. Composer Olli Kortekangas borrowed four poems from my books Cloud Birds and Echo & Lightning to create "Migrations," a cantata premiered by the Minnesota Orchestra in 2016.  This year, composer Wendy Durrwachter is creating a musical composition for the title poem of Surface Displacements. I am honored by their artistic work and enriched by the additional interpretation and beautiful music that they create.