“The Years We Lived in the Desert” by Megan MerchantPosted by Rattle
Ekphrastic Challenge, May 2019: Artist’s Choice
Image: “Desert Road” by Ellen McCarthy. “The Years We Lived in the Desert” was written by Megan Merchant for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, May 2019, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.
Comment from the artist, Ellen McCarthy: “I shot the picture sitting on the back of a truck, struck by the radiant blast of two colors and two simple shapes and felt a jolt of joy. So it startled me that this image aroused so many poems about disquiet or dejection—’their/ voice-wound loud.’ My chosen poem’s first line yanked me by the hair into its doleful world: ‘I cooked without sugar, left the picture frames empty …’ By the last line, I had forgotten my original vision and was nodding in agreement: Yes, yes, the desert can ravish us in more ways than one. It’s a land where we must always have an escape plan.”
“Art Therapy” by Aaric Tan Xiang YeowPosted by Rattle
Ekphrastic Challenge, April 2019: Editor’s Choice
Image: “Kandinsky’s Slippers” by Denise Zygadlo. “Art Therapy” was written by Aaric Tan Xiang Yeow for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, April 2019, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.
Comment from the editor, Timothy Green: “What first draws me to this poem is the voice, which genuinely sounds like the speaker in a guided meditation recording. But what holds me are the great leaps between the lines and images—and those great line breaks! There’s a wonderful sense of movement and surprise as we tumble down the poem, an expansion outward, until we reach that final line’s excitement. I feel revivified after reading this, and I can’t think of another poem that leaves me with that feeling. I want to go out and take a crayon to the world myself.”
“In the Nostalgia Chair” by Matthew MurreyPosted by Rattle
Ekphrastic Challenge, April 2019: Artist’s Choice
Image: “Kandinsky’s Slippers” by Denise Zygadlo. “In the Nostalgia Chair” was written by Matthew Murrey for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, April 2019, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.
Comment from the artist, Denise Zygadlo: “I found this poem very evocative; it created an atmosphere I felt went well with the image and took us beyond it into another world. The poet beckons us into his past and shares those important moments that lodge in his memory, without giving too much away, so that we find ourselves sitting in that deckchair reflecting with the sitter and composing our own pictures. In my collage it was Kandinsky, but it could be anyone transporting us into a world of nostalgia. I love that it summoned up such a rich love story for the poet, whilst retaining the essential elements of the image; the blinds, the loafers and the sense of a Florida landscape amongst palm trees. I also have a past with Keith Jarett records and liked how the allusions at the beginning of the poem were picked up at the end. Very lovely, well done Mr. Murrey, thank you.”
“Living in Space After a Break-Up” by Jaime MeraPosted by Rattle
Ekphrastic Challenge, March 2019: Editor’s Choice
Image: “Floating” by Betsy Mars. “Living in Space After a Break-Up” was written by Jaime Mera for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, March 2019, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.
Comment from the editor, Timothy Green: “As Betsy Mars mentioned last week, there was an especially wide range of interesting poems submitted for the challenge in March—and a near-record 395 submissions total. Jaime Mera grabbed me right away with the surprising humor in the first three lines before plunging into incredibly nuanced metaphor of at the heart of the poem. I love how the breakup and life in space, too, merge like that river, so that I almost forget which is a metaphor for which.”
Image: “Floating” by Betsy Mars. “Trompe L’oeil” was written by Juliet Latham for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, March 2019, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.
Comment from the artist, Betsy Mars: “This was a unique opportunity to be on the other side of the selection process, and I am hereby swearing to never again second-guess anyone’s choice. The range of subject matter, style, and length was breathtaking. A gutsy, succinct very short poem vs. a heartfelt and well-written three-pager. Some touched on the futuristic aspects of the image, some took the vibe and went with it in a more indirect manner. It may have been the most arduous work I have ever done outside of childbirth. I admired all, but in the end chose this because I love the extended metaphor and the way that the poet blurred the line between the literal and the symbolic. The sense of alienation and detachment was so palpable in the writing. I have felt that kind of out-of-body experience when looking at my own life, and I think the poem aligns so well with the emotions conjured by the image. Plus, I am mildly at risk for retinal detachment.”
“Sometimes a Man Has to Get His Hands Dirty” by Alexandre MikanoPosted by Rattle
Ekphrastic Challenge, February 2019: Editor’s Choice
Image: “Work Gloves” by Justin Hamm. “Sometimes a Man Has to Get His Hands Dirty” was written by Alexandre Mikano for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, February 2019, and selected as the Editor’s Choice.
Comment from the editor, Timothy Green: “Often I end up choosing a poem that takes the month’s image in some new and surprising direction, but this month the opposite is true. Alexandre Mikano went exactly where my mind goes when looking at this photograph, and were hundreds of other poets’ minds went, too—a kind of gritty love poem for a father figure—but he did it with such fine grace and detailed precision that it stood out among all the other poems nonetheless. This strikes me as a perfect embodiment of the image and the feelings it evokes.”
“Tan Hides and Hard Stuff” by Lisha NasipakPosted by Rattle
Ekphrastic Challenge, February 2019: Artist’s Choice
Image: “Work Gloves” by Justin Hamm. “Tan Hides and Hard Stuff” was written by Lisha Nasipak for Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, February 2019, and selected as the Artist’s Choice.
Comment from the artist, Justin Hamm: “When I took the picture of the work glove, a number of possible stories passed though my head. This was not one of them. Reading ‘Tan Hides and Hard Stuff’ changed how I looked at the picture, made me see it in a way that wouldn’t have occurred to me. The poem took personal ownership over the glove; it became less my photograph and more an menacing artifact of the speaker’s trauma. The poet here explores the appearance and purpose of the glove and uses those to communicate what the father is and what he is not by comparison. And all this with formal concision. I admire and am moved by this poem very much.”
