Brenda Cárdenas and Ekphrastic Poetry
“Upon hearing Cárdenas speak at In Process, I was compelled to read more of her ekphrastic poems, to dig deeper and unveil even more of their complexity, and to write an ekphrastic poem of my own.”
“An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art” (“Glossary”). Author Brenda Cárdenas presented her beautiful works of ekphrastic poetry for the In Process Series’ Special Event Event in Honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month. Some of these works were pieces from her 2023 publication Trace. Her newest poetry collection is full of works that bridge the gaps of language, life, death, and more. Her ekphrastic poems are unique and meaningful, bringing two creators together to create something inspirational and new. Upon hearing Cárdenas speak at In Process, I was compelled to read more of her ekphrastic poems, to dig deeper and unveil even more of their complexity, and to write an ekphrastic poem of my own.
Cárdenas’ “In Veiled Voices” was inspired by a piece of blown glass titled Conical Intersection by Harvey K. Littleton (“Blue”). This ekphrastic poem is a short, powerful piece related to nature and examines the influence that color and visual stimulation can have on human emotion. The poem opens presenting a setting sunset transforming into a deep starlit sky. The view shifts to the floor of a deep and vast canyon where the inhabitants lie sleeping. Finally, as the rising sun shows itself, the mindset shifts again to work starting before the sun (Cárdenas 29). The poem uses vivid imagery, and reading it while viewing the piece that served as its inspiration is truly a unique experience. Conical Intersection itself is blown glass that shows all the colors referenced in Cárdenas’ poem (“Blue”). The differences in the color changes gradually as one would find in a gradient, and Cárdenas mirrors this in her poem with the aspect of time passing and the sky gradually shifting colors and darkening. “In Veiled Voices” convinces the reader that this place is real — that this place exists somewhere out there, where blue mountains, clay canyons, and rolling dunes interweave into the landscape. Cárdenas uses brevity to create a powerful piece that relates the reader deeply to nature.
Another ekphrastic poem, one that Cárdenas read aloud and gave some background on at the In Process event, is titled “Cien nombres para la muerte: La zapatona/The Fleet-Footed Woman” (Cárdenas 23). The inspiration for this poem is a drawing by Erik De Luna titled “La Zapatona” (Sopetrán). Cárdenas gave the background that her brother had suffered a heart attack, and the skeleton fleet-footed woman in the print is running the same race that her brother is running. She sprints as flames spread from her feet and she runs and runs, and she represents death as it nears Cárdenas’ brother. Cárdenas likens the woman running to the racing of her brother’s heart; this had been a close encounter with death. According to the poem, this is the third time that Cárdenas’ brother has cheated her, therefore cheating death. Now, she is returning with more vengeance. Suddenly, the fleet-footed woman is racing inside his body, no longer at his side vying for first place but wrecking him from the inside out with every stride (Cárdenas 23). This poem personifies death as a woman with evil intentions, just waiting to pounce and take what she thinks is rightfully hers: first place, his life.
The continuing theme of life and death shows itself in different lights in Cárdenas’ other poems in the collection. “Shadow Dancing with the Living and the Dead” was written after Roy Staab’s Shadow Dance for Soham Patel and the 24 homicide victims in Milwaukee (“Shadow”). The poem begins with an explanation of the architecture of Shadow Dance, which consists of six interwoven circles of reeds. The first stanza ends with the line, “A bent line is stronger than a straight one” (Cárdenas 24). This line itself points to the central theme of the poem, that overcoming adversity breeds strength instead of weakness, a theme that shows compassion for the families of the victims in Milwaukee. The theme echoes in Staab’s piece as well. The circles represent unification and support with their interwoven nature and provide beauty from things like reeds, which are naturally bent and imperfect. The second stanza points to unification as “locking arms with their shadows / while blocks and worlds away, men orphan / themselves, tear through one another” and leave the world (Cárdenas 24). The speaker in the poem is a victim of homicide and feels helpless as they ponder the situation. However, the piece ends on a hopeful note as the speaker finds peace meeting another “shadow” in the middle of the circles — finding solace even though over time the circles may wither and succumb to the effects of nature. The title of this poem serves as the union of the “Living and the Dead.” The living are left with the wreckage of the homicides and are attempting to come together. The dead are going to move on from their circles of dedication, but tonight the shadows find solace in each other. This piece is a wonderful examination of life as well as pain and loss.
The next work shows love beyond life. “Yegua’s Daughter,” after On Giving Life by Ana Mendieta, is a captivating work showing a naked woman lying atop a skeleton (“Ana”). Cárdenas gives the woman a voice in this poem that shows her dependence on the person she loves. The woman methodically covers the face of the skeleton with children’s clay, and the process is tender and loving. The woman is giving life to this skeleton that she cares for. The skeleton’s person lives in the memory she is attempting to recreate. At the end of the first stanza, the finishes with the clay and says “Some would call it / a baptism” (Cárdenas 29). These two lines are telling of what the woman is doing. New life is being created in her actions. She is baptizing the skeleton, which was once dead and now has new life. The second stanza begins with, “Others, a wedding” (Cárdenas 29). Alternatively, instead of a new life being created, here is a merging of entities, living and dead. A covenant is being made as the woman slides a ring onto the skeleton’s finger, a covenant of love and trust. She proceeds to lie atop the skeleton, fully unifying herself with it. She speaks of how the sharp bones bruise her flesh and the grass tickles her thighs. The woman exhausts herself with the feeling and the want of the skeleton to be true, and the poem concludes with the woman asking the audience: “If you could be a bellows, blow / air into the earth’s collapsing lungs, / wouldn’t you?” (Cárdenas 29). The last line of the poem is very telling; the woman justifies her actions. If you could give life back to the thing that gave you life, the earth, why wouldn’t you try? Cárdenas uses the rhetorical question to allow the voice of the woman to connect with the reader, and does so with the shared experience of love. The lines show that the skeleton was as important to the woman’s life as the entirety of the earth and that the loss feels like the earth collapsing in. “Yegua’s Daughter” shows a haunting picture of love and despair, especially the loss of the one you love.
Cárdenas’ works show something unique that I had not experienced with poetry before. Most of the time the reader is left to interpret the words on the page and formulate their conclusions about the image the poet had in mind. However, with ekphrastic poetry the reader can relate the image of inspiration to the poem created from its being, and I think that is one way poetry can be made more accessible to its audience. Cárdenas shows a fantastic range of language and the ability to manipulate both English and Spanish in her works seamlessly. Trace is an exercise in short and powerful poetry that leaves the reader raw with the real emotion of loss and the weight of life and death. This publication is so rich with Cárdenas’ works of ekphrastic poetry that reading it inspired me to try to write an ekphrastic poem myself. The inspiration for the work titled “What you’ve made me” is a sculpture of glazed stoneware by Jane Ford Aebersold (“Jane”).
What you’ve made me
after Jane Ford Aebersold, Bennington Suite #3, 1993
When do you save? I change
colors at the touch of your
hand. How many more
Ripples do you create in me
before I break? I grapple for
you. Fix the empty hollow,
make new where I am broken.
Your face is imprinted on me.
You build me up all battered,
deceived, unwanted, scorned.
Take me. Take the violet heartbreak.
Disburden my amber impatience.
Remove the celestial shame.
Make me your shade.
Why don’t I know you?
Can I know your perfection?
How heavy is the hand
that holds the world.
How beautiful am I,
when you are what I am?
Imperfection is complete.
in your presence,
I am made whole.
Works Cited
“Ana Mendieta.” ANA MENDIETA, The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, 2023, www.anamendietaartist.com/work/67f45e26-9b6f-4358-92d8-01f3c4091410-xsyhr-lgr36/67f45e26-9b6f-4358-92d8-01f3c4091410-xsyhr-lgr36/67f45e26-9b6f-4358-92d8-01f3c4091410-xsyhr-lgr36.
“Blue Conical Intersection with Ruby and Orange Ellipsoid.” Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2023, https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/blue-conical-intersection-ruby-and-orange-ellipsoid-120251
“Brenda Cárdenas: Official Website of Poet, Essayist, Editor, and Educator.” Brenda Cárdenas, 2023, www.brendacardenas.net/.
Cárdenas, Brenda. Trace. Red Hen Press, 2023.
“Glossary of Poetic Terms: Ekphrasis.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 2023, www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/ekphrasis.
“Jane Ford Aebersold.” Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2023, https://americanart.si.edu/artist/jane-ford-aebersold-7305
“Shadow Dance — Roy Staab — Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, 2016, artsandculture.google.com/asset/shadow-dance-roy-staab/2gFg4c7iNiYuOg?hl=en.
Sopetrán, Julie. “Los Cien Nombres Que Los Mexicanos Le Dan a La Muerte de Julie Sopetrán.” SENDERO BLOG, 27 Oct. 2019, sendero.blog/2019/10/27/los-cien-nombres-que-los-mexicanos-le-dan-a-la-muerte-de-julie-sopetran/.
Chloe Dye is a sophomore majoring in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. She was enrolled in English 3635-Honors, the In Process Series class, during the Fall 2023 semester.
