Slice of Life Post by Barb Edler, May 16, 2023

Today’s the last day for my ekphrastic writing class. It has been so much fun, but too short. I love writing ekphrastic poetry and the class composed of three students and one writing guide has been energizing. During the course, I wrote four ekphrastic poems, and really only two are any good. I must admit that I write a lot of bad poetry so that I even wrote one that I’m happy with is an accomplishment. Later, I need to do the hard task of revising the ones that are particularly poor because they’re worth the effort.

As I feel the weight of another gloomy day, I need to remind myself that my life is heaven compared to The Migrant Mother. I wish I could share another writer’s work from the class because it was phenomenal in sharing factual information about this woman’s life. Did you know that Florence Owens never received a dime for Dorthea Lange’s iconic photo? Later in life, she was interviewed by another reporter who photographed Florence with the three daughters who are in the original photograph. In this interview she basically said that they did what they could to survive.

Inspired by Dorthea Lange’s Migrant Mother

she tastes gritty sand
blistering heat    pressed inside
her clothes    calloused hands

she breathes scorched desert
air      swallows      endless squalor
thirsts for cool water

she remembers bright
nights    dancing by the river
his hands     his promise

she longs to embrace
her hungry children     searching
for sustenance     love

her exhaustion      writhes
flickers like      wildfire 


Barb Edler
8 May 2023