Ekphrasis

December 20, 2018

“Placebo” by Jill M. TalbotPosted by

Ekphrastic Challenge, November 2018: Artist’s Choice

 

Eat Me by Nicolette Daskalakis

Image: “Eat Me” by Nicolette Daskalakis. “Placebo” was written by Jill M. Talbot for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, November 2018, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.

[download: PDF / JPG]

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Jill M. Talbot

PLACEBO

Coffee for headache, grapefruit for heartache,
blue for the weather and red for forgiveness;
hopelessness–may I suggest a bubblegum flavor?
Not all nutrtional lists cover psychic benefit.
Jung prescribed lemon for neurosis;
psychosis requires a dash of red pepper.
Plug your nose and wear swimming goggles,
be sure to pose and photograph—
share on instagram. As for existential despair:
some things still need to be left to cats.
Thanks for shopping with McFuture.
May we suggest you use your plastic bag
as a face mask?

—from Ekphrastic Challenge
November 2018, Artist’s Choice

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Comment from the artist, Nicolette Daskalakis: “It was difficult to choose just one poem, but ultimately ‘Placebo’ stood out to me because it captured the tone, humour, and critique of commercial culture I had in mind while shooting ‘Eat Me.’ I love that the poet addresses the commodification of ‘cures’ and looks at how our society’s never-ending search for a silver bullet to its ailments has only been amplified by the social media age.”

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November 29, 2018

“Locked Brakes on Blacktop” by Guinotte WisePosted by

Ekphrastic Challenge, October 2018: Editor’s Choice

 

Hanging Collage by Courtney Carroll

Image: “Hanging Collage” by Courtney Carroll. “Locked Brakes on Blacktop” was written by Guinotte Wise for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, October 2018, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.

[download: PDF / JPG]

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Guinotte Wise

LOCKED BRAKES ON BLACKTOP

When he drives the grain truck in, what
the hell, parachutists in the trees! Cannot
believe this shit he says, farming is not
a spectator sport, used to be from seed to
silo not much else but baloney sandwich
damn hydraulics give out sometimes but
not much else to pull attention, now black
smoke blowing airhorns too brakes are
locked and tires striping Florida blacktop
jumpers out there silks aflutter standing
right there in the deathwish lane I will
do them in by hand if I jack-knife this old
Peterbilt and live to get my hands on them.
Sur-fucking-real he says, spits Red Man
into a coffee can misses the sonofabitch.

—from Ekphrastic Challenge
October 2018, Editor’s Choice

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Comment from the editor, Timothy Green: “There’s something delightful in the contrast between the no-nonsense trucker and the surreal scene he’s witnessing, and something mesmerizing about the half-monologue’s voice. As often happens, it was the poem that I enjoyed more every time I returned to it. And the ending, where he spits out his tobacco but misses, is perfect.”

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November 22, 2018

“What Is Not Lost” by Sharon CotePosted by

Ekphrastic Challenge, October 2018: Artist’s Choice

 

Hanging Collage by Courtney Carroll

Image: “Hanging Collage” by Courtney Carroll. “What Is Not Lost” was written by Sharon Cote for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, October 2018, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.

[download: PDF / JPG]

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Sharon Cote

WHAT IS NOT LOST

In my dream it was morning
or evening, the sky lightly stained
with Easter dyes,
the fields and mountains
glowing like an old stovetop,
dark in spots.

You were there, in a
living tree, living, unlike you,
but in my dream it was so
and you were back.

You played and sang
and the music grew and grew
and shifted the air around us
and was so much more beautiful
than even I remembered.
It tasted like fruit on my lips,
I could see it before me.

And your music was calling
others back too, everyone really,
and those of us still
on the ground stopped,
stopped whatever we were doing
and looked up and listened.

And everyone was stunned
or smiling, even the sky,
even the tree, and you most of all
until everyday light and
shadows
scrubbed it all away.

But I’ll hold on to your music,
clutch those notes tightly. They
are mine to keep, they
always were, and I’ll
hold on to them as hard as I can.

—from Ekphrastic Challenge
October 2018, Artist’s Choice

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Comment from the artist, Courtney Carroll: “I chose this poem because it captures the sensory feelings of memory so well. I enjoy the exploring the senses associated with someone loved and gone. It can seem like even trees smile when you think of that person.”

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October 30, 2018

“The Happy Meditator” by Katherine HuangPosted by

Ekphrastic Challenge, September 2018: Editor’s Choice

 

Back of the Beach by Karen Kraco

Image: “Back of the Beach” by Karen Kraco. “The Happy Meditator” was written by Katherine Huang for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, September 2018, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.

[download: PDF / JPG]

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Katherine Huang

THE HAPPY MEDITATOR

With a leg-cross
onto his skateboard,
he cropped himself

from the mirage.
No longer afraid
to be discovered

by the pale
shiny people who
populated the beach,

bleaching the oasis
with their sunscreen,
he became

three-dimensional
again, solid enough
to hear the rustle

of summer leaves.
When his mother
called, he tried

to explain to her
how he could depart
instantly from places

when they no longer
seemed real: the city,
the lakeside, the closeness

of today, leaving behind
not so much a shadow
as a doorway open to

interpretation.

—from Ekphrastic Challenge
September 2018, Editor’s Choice

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Comment from the editor, Timothy Green: “It’s not often that my favorite aspect of a poem is the line breaks, but that’s the case here; they’re perfect. There’s a both a tension and a touch of surprise in every new line as the poem slowly winds its way down the page, and the effect is perfectly meditative. I also loved that the poem centers around what seemed to me the most interesting detail of the photograph—the way that the figure appears physically separate from it, as if he’s practicing zazen in front of a green screen.”

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October 25, 2018

“Beer, Buoy, Boat, Board” by Devon BalwitPosted by

Ekphrastic Challenge, September 2018: Artist’s Choice

 

Back of the Beach by Karen Kraco

Image: “Back of the Beach” by Karen Kraco. “Beer, Buoy, Boat, Board” was written by Devon Balwit for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, September 2018, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.

[download: PDF / JPG]

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Devon Balwit

BEER, BUOY, BOAT, BOARD

Above it all or just apart, you watched
from the edges, a half-smile quirking
your lips, not a smirk exactly,
for you weren’t disdainful, merely
speculative, trying to figure out
what we called pleasure, the dumb
joy of the simple—a can shaken
and bubbling over, the chill of sun cream
down the back. We sensed you there
but stopped inviting you closer.
It’d been years since you’d said yes.
We let you remain our opposite,
like an afterimage on the retina, the sun
spangling the river before lazing beyond.
We sensed you wanted to follow its meander
but didn’t know how. We’d have rested easier
had you disappeared, no longer having to imagine
how we looked to one not joining in.
But you had a role to play before we,
grown resentful, finally splashed you
from the shallows or flicked a half-chewed crust
to send you home. Then we began
the earnest work of reassurance—
our castle, our towel, our girl, our footprints—
briefly clear in sand.

—from Ekphrastic Challenge
September 2018, Artist’s Choice

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Comment from the artist, Karen Kraco: “Reading through these poems reminded me of the individual lenses through which we each view the world. Poets took this in so many different directions, with compelling voices. Picking just one was hard. I think I wound up choosing ‘Beer, Buoy, Boat, Board’ because it captures the otherness and separateness in the scene that led me to make ‘Back of the Beach.’ Although I had race in mind when I took the shot, the poem feels more universal, examining our discomfort in the presence of those who are different from or set apart from us, and our tendency to turn away from that discomfort.”

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September 27, 2018

“Sonnet for the Night Shift” by Kim HarveyPosted by

Ekphrastic Challenge, August 2018: Editor’s Choice

 

Waiting by Alexis Rhone Fancher

Image: “Waiting” by Alexis Rhone Fancher. “Sonnet for the Night Shift” was written by Kim Harvey for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, August 2018, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.

[download: PDF / JPG]

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Kim Harvey

SONNET FOR THE NIGHT SHIFT

For the barbacks and the line cooks, this one’s
for you, for the jostle and bustle of
busboys hustling tips, for the aprons
and grease, for the fluorescent light above,

for how her hair falls at the nape of her
neck, for the way memory works, something
I chase, something I can’t control, slow burn
of swoon-jazz on the jukebox, for the sting

of tequila, for the draft beer on tap,
for the ones who come back night after night,
for yesterday’s special wrapped up as scraps
and for those who pass through just for a bite

or some human contact, for busting ass
and for refilling every empty glass.

—from Ekphrastic Challenge
August 2018, Editor’s Choice

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Comment from the editor, Timothy Green: “Many excellent poems saw something sad or sinister in Alexis Rhone Fancher’s photograph, but Kim Harvey managed to flip the script entirely. I can’t remember the last time I read a good old fashioned praise poem. And there’s so much in this world worthy of praise that slips by unnoticed. I appreciated being reminded of that—and of all the night shifts I’ve worked over the years, and the strange intermingling of duty and possibility that comes to life in those hours.”

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September 20, 2018

“That Bit Me” by Matthew MurreyPosted by

Ekphrastic Challenge, August 2018: Artist’s Choice

 

Waiting by Alexis Rhone Fancher

Image: “Waiting” by Alexis Rhone Fancher. “That Bit Me” was written by Matthew Murrey for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, August 2018, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.

[download: PDF / JPG]

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Matthew Murrey

THAT BIT ME

The sex is only good if we’re totally fucked up.
It blurs how wrong we are for each other.
—Alexis Rhone Fancher

It’s all a blur
how we wound up
this morning two spoons,
hand in glove, glass
full half, full empty.
Who was smooth
porter, creamy
stout, and who sweet-
strong Barbados rum?

Come, don’t pretend you
don’t remember taking me
home saying God,
you look like you
could stand a little
something to eat (I did)

and drink (we did).
We tipped many
and found ourselves lips
on lips, unbuttoned and undone.
I don’t remember you
regretting a thing. So don’t

toss that look, Lenny,
as if I’m just any stranger
strolling this joint. You
aren’t fooling anybody,
this body. Now lean in
and let me know where

and when we’ll hook up
again, then fill me
a glass of something light
tonight: a pilsner
or lager—hair
of the dog that bit me.

—from Ekphrastic Challenge
August 2018, Artist’s Choice

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Comment from the artist, Alexis Rhone Fancher: “So many terrific poems, inspired by my shot of the waitress and busboy at The Artisan House restaurant in DTLA, a restaurant that, sadly, no longer exists. I had a hard time choosing the winner, but I kept going back to Matthew Murrey’s tongue-in-cheek poem that riffed on a line in a poem of mine. Oh, that’s clever! I thought as I began reading the poem, prepared to be underwhelmed. But the poem delivered. It caught the just-perceptible despair in the slump of the server’s shoulders, juxtaposed with the late night bravado that’s the stock in trade of the successful cocktail waitress. I should know. I was one.”

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