The Depth of Skin

Sometimes, the most beautiful thing about art and poetry is how deeply it resonates with you. It's because you see something real, honest, and beautiful within the words and the brushstrokes. This short and sweet prompt will focus on this idea by taking a look at the work of Caravaggio, a 16th century Italian painter. (More on him here.) Specifically, I thought we'd take a look at his masterful depictions of human skin. The inspiration for this post came from the Caravaggista blogger on tumblr. All the photos are from a blog post she did on Caravaggio's talent for realism in the realm of human skin.

Your skin is an interesting thing. It's the most exposed part of you. When you get banged up in day-to-day life, your skin is the one that takes the hit. When someone touches you, they're feeling your skin at the same time you are feeling theirs. It's impossible to take skin out of the equation of human interaction. It's the organ we probably think the least about, unless we're experiencing pain, discomfort, or self-consciousness. (Or maybe you're just wishing you had a tan.) Either way, it's sort of a miracle that skin exists. It can be beautiful and horrific. (Google will eagerly show you the horror story...we're going to stick to the pretty stuff today.)

Let's get started

Take a look at the following close-ups in Caravaggio's artwork:

God, have you ever realized how expressive and lovely skin can be? I'm not sure if it's creepy to say that, but I think that Caravaggio's paintings prove a certain point: art sheds light on something as common as skin. It makes the ordinary suddenly extraordinary. It shifts the way you think about something. And isn't that also the purpose of poetry? 

Prompt

1. Free write on the provided images. Feel free to find other artwork highlighting skin, if these aren't doing it for you. Send them to us, too---we'd be delighted to see more examples!

2. Underline your "sparkly spots" (AKA the profound, beautiful, or significant parts of your freewrite with the most poetic potential).

3. Use those sparkly spots to create a poem that focuses on....

    A) Describing skin in new and beautiful ways. OR...

    B) Human skin as a metaphor. OR....

    C) The expressiveness of skin. What does it look like when it's expressing different emotions? 

As always, good luck! Feel free to send your creation our way if you dig it. Chances are we'll probably dig it, too. Have a wonderful day, poets and writers!