Ekphrastic poems are inspired by artwork. Anayia Casas’s piece “Neon Blade” is inspired by Andy Warhol’s 1983 artwork Speed Skater.
Vibrant hues of electric blues and flaming reds race across the ice.
A hum of whispered light chases the shadow of a reverberating silhouette.
Blades bite and hiss as they glide, quick, from edge to burning color.
Frosty, crescent steel leaves silent, dancing scars—stories carved into icy blue skin.
Crisp wind whips my face, smooth yet sharp as greased lemons.
Motion blends with my suit of wild Raspberry Caroline,
Hugging muscle and memory against the licorice abyss that lies behind.
I am a blur, a brilliance, a mosaic echo chasing its own reflection.
My heartbeat drums like ripples of rain in my chest.
The stadium erupts—a world of splashed colors.
Elemental greens shout from the corners’ edges.
Suns of molten yellow pool beneath me.
Each stride bends time like a mirrored symphony.
Limbs, in a trance, slice hours into minutes, minutes into fleeting moments.
Applause roars like distant thunder around me.
The dashing scrape of metal is a song I can only taste.
Eccentric rainbow flames flicker in radiant flashes.
I am electric, everlasting—
A motion's mirage, a bright ghost of the mind,
Chasing itself across shimmering, jeweled ice.
A neon blade, dancing in fierce winds—
A masterpiece of speed without end.
Anayia Casas, a graduating senior at PPCHS, created this piece in her creative writing class. It draws inspiration from Andy Warhol’s 1983 artwork Speed Skater, exploring motion, color, and bold, graphic style.
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