more ekphrasis?

This poem is what I would, perhaps loosely, describe as an ekphrastic poem. It was "inspired" by the element that I used as a substrate for this collage. I tried to use the words and phrases from the substrate to create an "acceptable" piece of poetry. Not the best poem, but a novelty poem none the less. I will be reading this poem as one of three at the upcoming Southern Humanities conference in Louisville, KY:

Advice from a certain type of writer

The First Lesson is done.

At 8

it is over…

leave; turn the page

The Second Lesson is,

“don’t plagiarize”.

Don’t use the phrase “A lurid fire failed”

Don’t use the phrase “A dull jailer sulks”.

The Third Lesson is,

“Be truthful, not fitful”.

You will touch hearts,

your tales remembered

The Fourth Lesson? …“explore”

Take wild walks in forests dark

…with folk and fowl and spooks and ghosts

Create wild work

The Fifth Lesson is nostalgic.

Understand that old junk links lives

The velvet and flannel

The big barn, and novels

What is the Sixth Lesson?

Exile the clock!

use everything you now have;

There are no limits …excel