June 29, 2017

Ekphrastic Challenge, May 2017: Editor’s Choice

 

The Pink Bird Corridor by Soren James

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.

[download: PDF / JPG]

__________

Priyam Goswami Choudhury

SHE TELLS HIM OF HER FEARS

imagine
this w_rld as y_u kn_w it
g_ne;

n_t because _f itself
but
y_ur _wn h_ll_wness—

a faculty _f y_ur existence
pl_tzlich
disappeared

the _rder _f things
as y_u kn_w it
bec_mes a semblance

_f what it is n_t;
like an empty carcass
at the Smiths_nian;

the pe_ple peering in
are actually peering
thru

Ekphrastic Challenge, May 2017
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.”

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June 22, 2017

Ekphrastic Challenge, May 2017: Artist’s Choice

 

And the Wolf by Laura Jensen

Image: “The Pink Bird Corridor” by Soren James. “Birds of a Feather” was written by Lianne Kamp for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, May 2017, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.

[download: PDF / JPG]

__________

Lianne Kamp

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

And this, my friend,
is how the end is
determined to find us—

after eons of evolution,
after miraculous miles
of twisting DNA,

trailing through the
telescopic corridors
and the electric synopsis—

to be pared down
to the bare bones,
to be stripped of

all our trappings
like so many proud
peacocks unaware

that their plumage
has fallen away

Ekphrastic Challenge, May 2017
Artist’s Choice

[download audio]

__________

Comment from the artist, Soren James, on this selection: “From a wonderfully diverse collection of poems, I’ve chosen one that I found perhaps the most concise—its pared style echoing its meaning. Philosophically rich, the poem covers a surprising amount of ground—from genial opening to abstract comment on everything—in less than a hundred words. Loved it.”

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