High School students from a summer writing camp, Words With Wings (organized by the Missoula Writing Collaborative) visited the Wood Engravers’ Network Triennial Exhibition and Dramatic Movements: Frederic Remington’s Early Engravings, 1882–1893 at the Montana Museum of Art & Culture in July and wrote Ekphrastic poems inspired by their favorite works. You can see the exhibit through September 17, 2016. We’ll be sharing the poems along with images of the engraving “muses” each week. Here is the first of ten:
Author: Sophia Casey
Art & Artist: Midnight Snack, Sylvia Portillo
As the moon rises
animals scurry about
looking for safety.
But the owls are lurking for prizes
flying from branch to branch
looking for a meal,
listening for ruffling leaves.
In the distance
a young mouse squeaks
not knowing the dangers of noise.
The wings of night
hears the calling
and immediately goes to it
as quietly as he can.
The young, cute, fuzzy creature
just about makes it to his hole
when he hears the silent sound
of wings flapping
In a split second, the flapping stops
and there is a silent moment
almost too silent.
Suddenly the talons of the hungry beast
close doen on the mouse
and all the sound you can hear
is the mouse’s feet
leaving the ground.
