Comment from the editor, Timothy Green, on his selection: “There are many ways ekphrastic poems can work—some poems leap imaginatively into new scenes, others linger on certain details or make a viewer see the source image in new ways. Steven Dondlinger chose probably the most difficult option: Here he explains, expands, and illuminates the very feeling I get looking at the photograph. It’s a happy, lonely, pleasant sadness, that I can’t really describe—this poem is the description.”
Note: This poem has been published exclusively online as part of our quarterly Ekphrasis Challenge, in which we ask poets to respond to an image provided by our current issue’s cover artist. This spring, the image was a photograph by Gail Goepfert. We received 295 entries, and the artist and Rattle‘s editor each chose their favorite. Gail’s choice was posted last Saturday. For more information on the Ekphrasis Challenge visit its page. See other poets’ responses or post your own by joining our Facebook group.
Comment from the photographer, Gail Goepfert, on her selection: “The directions taken by each of the poems Tim sent amazed me. What can be done with blue sky and sulfur cosmos! They elicited a botanist reminiscing about a prom date, to Paolo & Francesca to building a cosmos of remainders, to a souvenir from South America and the memory it evoked of once lying on the ground to look up at these flowers as I did to take the photo. All caught me by surprise and wowed me. In the end, I kept returning to read Liz Clift’s poem, my choice for this challenge; it’s arresting. The tension between the rich garden details including the ‘fat bodies of bumblebees wedging into snapdragons’ and the narrator on her knees (‘how I could erase my body by focusing on theirs’) pulled me in. There was so much rawness, nakedness—raw imagery, raw emotion, rawness in wanting. The poet’s voice—exposed and honest. To imagine that orange flowers against her ‘cerulean sky’ prompted this poem!” (website)
Note: This poem has been published exclusively online as part of our quarterly Ekphrasis Challenge, in which we ask poets to respond to an image provided by our current issue’s cover artist. This spring, the image was a photograph by Gail Goepfert. We received 295 entries, and the artist and Rattle‘s editor each chose their favorite. Timothy Green’s choice will be posted next Saturday. For more information on the Ekphrasis Challenge visit its page. See other poets’ responses or post your own by joining our Facebook group.
Comment from the editor, Timothy Green, on his selection: “This winter’s photograph generated a wide and wonderful range of poems, conjuring everything creepy, from alien autopsies to hermit crabs in a fish tank—but the timelessness of this villanelle made my hair stand up more than any other interpretation. There’s something about the detached sadness of the speaker, an acceptance of the inevitable moment when each one of us will become obsolete, that’s very haunting. Plus, I’m a sucker for form, and this is a form played perfectly.”
Comment from the photographer, James Bernal: “It might come from my background of reading into photographs and making up little stories about the subjects, but I loved everything about ‘Clean White Sheets.’ It was very funny but also very real and honest—I almost feel as though the author truly knew something I didn’t about the recently deceased. I feel like I know who that person was and the life he lived and that he was loved. Thanks M, I’ll never be able to look at this photo without imagining a lonely night at Skinny Dick’s Halfway Inn.”
Comment from the editor, Timothy Green, on his selection: “Some of the poems submitted to this challenge were insightful, some were touching, others were funny—but only one made me laugh to myself in an empty room every time I read it, and it was this brief (even by haiku standards) haiku. Not only is it funny, but it’s true to the photograph, and as clever and concisely intricate as the argiope spider itself.”
Note: This poem has been published exclusively online as part of our quarterly Ekphrasis Challenge, in which we ask poets to respond to an image provided by our current issue’s cover artist. This fall, the image was a photograph of an argiope spider by Judy Keown. We received 266 entries, and the artist and Rattle‘s editor each chose their favorite. Timothy Green’s choice will be posted next Saturday. For more information on the Ekphrasis Challenge visit its page. See other poets’ responses or post your own by joining our Facebook group.
Comment from the photographer, Judy Keown, on her selection: “I am in love with the poem I selected and was amazed with the quality of work submitted by each and every poet! Paula Schulz’s poem, ‘The Writing Spider,’ spoke to me and my desire to achieve professional acceptance in the tough world of photography. We each have that inner desire to be recognized for our efforts. Yet for me, I have now learned if I’m happy with an image, that’s really all that counts even if no one sees my work. Acknowledgement from others is just a welcome bonus. I applaud each of the authors and will treasure the poems submitted. As a whole, this group has forever changed my perspective. So now when I’m out photographing nature in the middle of the woods, high atop a mountain, watching the sun rise or set, your words will be there to keep me company. ‘… when the work is done, she signs her name as any artist would …’ Thank you!” (website)
Note: This poem has been published exclusively online as part of our quarterly Ekphrasis Challenge, in which we ask poets to respond to an image provided by our current issue’s cover artist. This fall, the image was a photograph of an argiope spider by Judy Keown. We received 266 entries, and the artist and Rattle‘s editor each chose their favorite. Timothy Green’s choice will be posted next Saturday. For more information on the Ekphrasis Challenge visit its page. See other poets’ responses or post your own by joining our Facebook group.
