December 28, 2017

Ekphrastic Challenge, November 2017: Editor’s Choice

 

Wind-Blown Meadow by Phyllis Meredith

Image: “Wind-Blown Meadow” by Phyllis Meredith. “Surf Days” was written by Elizabeth McMunn-Tetangco for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, November 2017, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.

[download: PDF / JPG]

__________

Elizabeth McMunn-Tetangco

SURF DAYS

Surf days
when you said
nobody goes
on new adventures
anymore and
so we drove
out to the coast
and watched the tiny
waves do
nothing
to the shoreline, sat
on rocks
and drank the beer
that I had stolen
from my roommate, left
green bottles
blinking sun back
from the sand.

In the photo
that I pinned up to old walls for years
and then stuck
in the center of a book, I see

your hair a question mark, your
eyes

the darkness curled up inside of a shell
the world around you
lit

with lines and gray, but most of all just
you

so very young—my best
best friend

the smartest
kid I ever knew, some
kind of god

who lifted sand
and sent stars flying
everywhere.

How did we love and hurt and care
and turn to nothing

after that?

from Ekphrastic Challenge
November 2017, Editor’s Choice

[download audio]

__________

Comment from the editor on this selection: “Quite simply, this poem felt the most emotionally honest of all those we received this month. I can see the scene at the beach and this photograph tucked into the speaker’s notebook, even though I know it really isn’t there. An entire world is constructed from the image, and because it feels so real, the longing feels real, too.”

Rattle Logo

December 21, 2017

Ekphrastic Challenge, November 2017: Artist’s Choice

 

Wind-Blown Meadow by Phyllis Meredith

Image: “Wind-Blown Meadow” by Phyllis Meredith. “Young Medusa in the Fall” was written by J.P. Dancing Bear for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, November 2017, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.

[download: PDF / JPG]

__________

J.P. Dancing Bear

YOUNG MEDUSA IN THE FALL

this is how I want to become

in November when all the sugar manifests
into colors: all varieties of rust and gold

if the wind catches a strand of hair
breathes life into it, till it writhes and twists
and hisses—so be it

I had my fill of what others call me
what they want me to be, I’m through
with bickering about labels

listen: there is a hint of frost in the air,
if you stop everything, you can hear
crystals forming

I want that—to be that sharp
and hard and cold—to stare you
into stone, if I must

look: I never asked you to follow me
out here, alone and without notice, if you

stay stuck here, don’t expect me to return

from Ekphrastic Challenge
November 2017, Artist’s Choice

[download audio]

__________

Comment from the artist, Phyllis Meredith, on this selection: “For me, this is the poem that most matches the mood and the story of the image. This poem really speaks about the stare she is giving. It digs into the soul of this image. While it does mention the wind and her hair, the words then dig deeper and go on to question the meaning behind the look she is giving to the viewer and what she is truly saying. I believe ‘Young Medusa in the Fall’ gets to the heart of ‘Wind Blown Meadow.’ In this image Meadow is thirteen, almost fourteen, years old, the image was taken at twilight on Surfers Point Beach in Ventura, California, where my parents live. She was freezing cold and super mad—she had hit her head and was very upset by that and the strong wind and just how cold it really was that evening at sunset.”

Rattle Logo