Ekphrastic Challenge, August 2017: Editor’s Choice
Image: “Street Folks” by Jennifer O’Neill Pickering. “Mint in Pots” was written by Ann Wuehler for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, August 2017, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.
Comment from the editor on this selection: “I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so captivated by the dialogue in a poem. ‘Mint in Pots’ reads like a Hemingway short story, full of great lines by two great characters, and that was even more refreshing than mint in a pot.”
Ekphrastic Challenge, August 2017: Artist’s Choice
Image: “Street Folks” by Jennifer O’Neill Pickering. “Trajectory” was written by Ann Giard-Chase for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, August 2017, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.
Comment from the artist, Jennifer O’Neill Pickering, on this selection: “Many of the poems reflected the visual narrative of my pastel, but what I particularly liked about ‘Trajectory’ was the positive outcome for one of the characters. This left me feeling hopeful. I think we can use a bit of hope now.”
“After Cleaning the Kitchen Again, He Realizes” by Rosemerry Wahtola TrommerPosted by Rattle
Ekphrastic Challenge, July 2017: Editor’s Choice
Image: “Portrait of a Kitchen” by Samantha Gee. “After Cleaning the Kitchen Again, He Realizes” was written by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, July 2017, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.
Comment from the editor, Timothy Green, on this selection: “Samantha Gee’s painting generated a wide range of responses—some saw nostalgic breakfasts, others saw the loneliness of retirement, and many saw ghosts, which was surprising, because I don’t see ghosts at all. Very few of the 300 entries were love poems, though. Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer hooked me with that first line, which does indeed ‘sound so obvious’—so simple and wise that I think I must have read it before, but it turns out no one has. Lines like that are rare, as are fresh and authentic love poems like these. It fit the painting, and lifted my spirits, frankly. I hope it lifts yours, too.”
“My First Body Is Beautiful Until” by Reese ConnerPosted by Rattle
Ekphrastic Challenge, July 2017: Artist’s Choice
Image: “Portrait of a Kitchen” by Samantha Gee. “My First Body Is Beautiful Until” was written by Reese Conner for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, July 2017, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.
Comment from the artist, Samantha Gee, on this selection: “I was struck by the delightfully macabre imagery as well as the disconnect of the narrator’s existence in the temporary body. A lot of the poems I read made reference to the faded figure in the center of the painting as a ghost and faded memories; I thoroughly enjoyed how this poem puts the reader in the figure’s shoes as they take their first curious steps.”
“A Thousand Possible Clouds” by Valentina GnupPosted by Rattle
Ekphrastic Challenge, June 2017: Editor’s Choice
Image: “No Name #2” by Ryan Schaufler. “A Thousand Possible Clouds” was written by Valentina Gnup for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, June 2017, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.
Comment from the editor, Timothy Green, on this selection: “This amazing poem by Valentina Gnup seems to describe the mood of the painting by naming only what isn’t contained within it—all the things off-frame that we aren’t able to see. The best ekphrastic poems often operate tangentially, after a leap of separation from the visual content that creates the same effect as the cut that bridges disparate parts of a haiku: the poem is both completely a part of the painting and completely not. Gnup crafts this special kind of schism perfectly. I’m sure the children are there on the road, just off-frame, right next to the cow that sounds like a foghorn. What’s more, I read this on the 4th of July, and somehow, almost magically, all of Summer 2017 America is contained in the painting, too.” (website)
“Blue Rain Clouds, Reddish Ground, and Tall Crosses” by Jose Rizal ReyesPosted by Rattle
Image: “No Name #2” by Ryan Schaufler. “Blue Rain Clouds, Reddish Ground and Tall Crosses” was written by Jose Rizal Reyes for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, June 2017, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.
Comment from the artist, Ryan Schaufler, on this selection: “Several themes appeared throughout the collection of poems: feelings of loss, searching for purpose, remembrance of personal past and/or historical memories, spiritual confusion/search, spiritual experience found in the open road and expanse of land, fear of political/environmental/cultural changes, fear of the open road (where to start, where does it end, what’s next?). I was touched by ‘Blue Rain Clouds, Reddish Ground and Tall Crosses’ by Jose Rizal Reyes. He approaches the image from a somewhat different point-of-view than myself, yet intersects similar thoughts that I have when traveling across America, and how I felt when I took the original picture. I appreciated the simplicity of his well-structured sonnet and the subtle complexity that expressed the multitudinous colors that paint the traveler’s mind when confronted with endless road, expansive landscape, and the deteriorating structures of its past (man-made or otherwise). It was one of the more literal interpretations, while extending both somber and playful tones of heart and musicality. Whether one is traveling through the farmlands of the Midwest, the sacred Badlands, the dry deserts of the Southwest, epic towers of the Rocky Mountains, or the rolling hills of the Appalachian Trail, there is an unquestionable sense of spiritual connection that has been conveyed by countless people and cultures since man took their first step upon this continent. Mr. Reyes provides haunting dynamics that are now complicating these lands with centuries of historical and spiritual trauma that we, as American’s, often refuse to confront. In addition, there is an unavoidable clash of spiritual and political when traveling through America which he touches upon (perhaps, unintentionally) with the reference of ‘blue and red be it so right or wrong.’ This embattled merging often muddies the purity of the experience and sends the mind swirling into a frenzy of questions, fears, and memories. Reyes reminds us of the importance to ask questions and challenge, not only what we see, but what we know (or think we know). Finally, he leads us to that frightening truth that every journey requires us to ‘start’ the process, which, to me, means if we focus on worrying about the length of the road or what will greet us at the end, we may never begin our travels. In other words, we will be stuck watching and wondering and never truly experiencing what life, art, nature, and humanity has to offer. It is simple questions filled with extraordinary answers only found by confronting the road in front of us. This is why I felt a deep and humbling connection to this particular poem and the image with no name.”
“She Tells Him of Her Fears” by Priyam Goswami ChoudhuryPosted by Rattle
Ekphrastic Challenge, May 2017: Editor’s Choice
Image: “The Pink Bird Corridor” by Soren James. “She Tells Him of Her Fears” was written by Priyam Goswami Choudhury for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, May 2017, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.
Comment from the editor, Timothy Green, on this selection: “To be honest, I find this poem perplexing, and I’m not exactly sure why I love it any more than I understand why it’s the letter O that is missing from the text. With its vivid, dreamlike strangeness, though, it fits the image perfectly. Both the photograph and the poem are oddities—artifacts to peer through and contemplate, that are also clearly and vividly rendered.”