May 26, 2016

Ekphrastic Challenge, April 2016: Editor’s Choice

 

Photograph by Robert Dash
Photograph: “Into the Mystic” by Robert Dash. “[Here, Said the Ocean]” was written by Rodrigo Dela Pena, Jr., for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, April 2016, and selected by Timothy Green as the Editor’s Choice winner.

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Rodrigo Dela Pena, Jr.

[HERE, SAID THE OCEAN]

Here, said the ocean to the ship

And here, said the towering sails to the wind

It was good, and there was evening

Here, said the body to music

O hear, said the lyre to the bones of the ear

And it was good, and there was morning

Here, said the breath, said the murmuring heart

Said the blank face of paper to the ink

Ekphrastic Challenge, April 2016
Editor’s Choice Winner

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Comment from the editor, Timothy Green, on his selection: “I’m always looking for the poem that works—but works like no other. With its concise and confident voice, Rodrigo Dela Pena, Jr., created the most unique artistic object to pair with this photograph. There’s beauty to the lines, but it’s also the kind of poem where imagination transcends intention, that pushes the boundaries of what can be articulated until it becomes something truly new.”

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May 12, 2016

Robert Arroyo, Jr.

TO MY WIFE (IN THE KITCHEN ATTEMPTING PANCAKES)

Let go of the skillet
and your fear of failure. Every day we live
is a reminder of how God muffed it: think
of the forty days and forty nights. How many times
will you stand at the stove, stirring
a coagulating mixture of flour, eggs and milk?
Your bangs frizzing in the heat
rising from the smoking pan. Not even faith can help you
now. Come into the study, sit on my chair’s armrest
and be lit by the monitor’s dumb light. Look
over my shoulder, check my grammar, spelling.
Tell me I’ve got the ingredients wrong.

—from Rattle #11, Summer 1999

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