An afternoon of ekphrastic Atomic Poetry

Fremantle Shipping News is pleased to bring you Giles Watson’s ekphrastic poem Abo Elementary School and Fallout Shelter both as written and recited by the poet.

The Poetry Foundation explains that, in Greek, Ekphrasis means “Description”. And that an ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning. A notable example offered is “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” in which the poet John Keats speculates on the identity of the lovers who appear to dance and play music, simultaneously frozen in time and in perpetual motion.

In conjunction with Brett Leigh Dicks’ NUCLEAR LANDSCAPES exhibition still on at the Moores Building Art Space but ending this Sunday, 28 September, WA Poets Inc and the Perth Poetry Festival staged a call out for ekphrastic poetry in response to photographs from the series. From the pool of entries, Fremantle-based writer, Miriam Wei Wei Lo, selected seven poems to be read by their authors in the gallery on Sunday 28 September at an event fabulously labelled An Afternoon of Atomic Poetry.

Miriam favoured poems that had clear ekphrastic conversations with Brett’s work, either single photographs or with a series of images. She looked for poems that did more than just describe the photograph, selecting poems that demonstrated sophistication and originality in form, voice, thought, or choice of imagery. She was also interested in a diversity of perspectives on the controversial topic of nuclear energy.

One of them, by Albany-based poet Giles Watson, is titled Abo Elementary School and the Fallout Shelter. We bring it to you not only as Giles composed the poem in writing but also as he recited it on the day, along with the suite of images that inspired it.

First, here are the photographs that inspired Giles Watson’s ekphrastic poem.

Second, here’s an account of the Abo Elementary School – it’s real, we can assure you!

Located in Artesia, New Mexico, the Abo Elementary School was the first public school in the United States to be constructed entirely underground and equipped to serve as an advanced fallout shelter. Completed in 1962, the school was situated under a reinforced concrete slab that doubled as the school’s playground. The facility contained a large storage facility equipped with emergency rations and supplies for up to 2,160 people in the event of an incoming nuclear strike. Reinforced cast concrete walls and posts were constructed to support the 21-inch thick concrete slab roof. Heavy steel doors, designed to hold up under a nuclear explosion, were placed inside the three above ground entrances. Various educational experts visited the school during the 1960s, including noted Saint. Louis researcher, Frank Lutz, and concluded that students at the subterranean school performed as well academically as their counterparts in above ground schools.

Third, here is Giles’ ekphrastic poem.