My poem “(at the) end of the day” was among those chosen to accompany the painting “Fin de la Jornada”, by Emilio Boggio, at The Ekphrastic Review. You can see the artwork and read it, along with Merril Smith’s prose poem “Chromatic Scales” and the rest of those selected, here.
My thanks once again to editor Lorette C. Luzajic, and guest editor Janette Schafer, for supporting my work and the interaction between the visual and written arts.
My poem “Hallowed Be” is among the responses to Goya’s “El Conjuro” posted today at The Ekphrastic Review.
As it’s Draw a Bird Day, I’ve enlisted the newly returned birdlings for my collage response (along with some actual birds and the moon).
You can see Goya’s painting and read my poem, and all the other responses, here. My thanks to editor Lorette Luzajic for once again including my work in this bi-weekly challenge
My untitled response to Henry Darger is among those posted today at the Ekphrastic Review. His work is a rich source for collage as well as words.
Natalie Merchant was inspired to produce a haunting song about him.
What do we really know about anyone else? Darger’s work is a testament to how much is always hidden from view. You can read about Henry Darger here.
And you can read my poem, and all the other responses, here. My thanks to editor Lorette Luzajic for once again including my work in this bi-weekly challenge.
I was pleased to be included with Ken Gierke at rivrvlogr in the responses to Mark Rothko’s untitled painting with my poem “Through the Window”.
I did two paintings and one collage in response to Rothko’s painting. His work looks simple–“a child could do it”–but it is filled with possibilities if you take the time to look.
stillness is white
silence is black
repression is red
Paul’s Poetry Playground coincidentally featured an invented poetry form called “The Rothko” this week, so I’ve attempted two of those as well, loosely based on the quote, above.
white is before
red is during
black is after
You can see Rothko’s painting, and read all the responses to it, here. Thanks to editor Lorette Luzajic, as always, for featuring my work.
she’s unmasking the darkness, beast by beast–
with an unidentifiable cry
the night opens, the wilderness released
and swallowed by ancestral sounds—the sky
burning beyond heat—how to occupy
this landscape?—waves of pure dark animal
power, a language untranslatable–
hells breaking loose on the verge of dying–
recombining, lost, incompatible
with mass or gravity—and so!—flying
My poem wasn’t chosen for The Ekphrastic Review this week–the challenge was an evocative painting by Wladyslaw Podkowinski–so I decided to do a collage and take up Frank’s challenge at dVerse and turn the poem into a dizain.
I am always constrained in my art by what I have in my collage box, which is why the horse is upside-down, and the woman in parts. My dizain was then colored by the collage, which I completed while re-working the poem. An ekphrastic conversation.
You can see the original painting and read the chosen responses here. As always, an interesting array of writing.
My poem “Benediction” was among the responses to the painting “El Purgatorio”, by Cristobal Rojas, posted on The Ekphrastic Review last week. You can see the painting (which inspired the collage above) and read all the poems here.
Thanks to guest editor Janette Schafer for providing the visual inspiration and choosing my work, and to Ekphrastic Review editor Lorette C. Luzajic for her continued support for the interaction between the visual and written arts.
I wrote a few poems for this challenge, as I found Rojas’ painting to be full of questions. Here’s another one:
On the Edge (of)
The warmth is
sweet, tempting—it calls
on us for
voyages—
dreams to fill expectations,
push away the void,
the unseen
emptiness behind
the black hole
that follows
waiting, waiting, hungry for
the secrets we hide–
we follow
only ourselves, a
mobius
pathway of
regrets, misunderstandings,
lifetimes left behind–
what is out
side is indistinct,
blurred, unknown–
no stars guide
us—just the cries of the lost,
telling us to fly.
This collage was done in response to a prompt back in March at The Ekphrastic Review. The painting for the writing challenge was “The Chess Game” by Sofonisba Anguissola. My poem wasn’t chosen, but you can see the original painting and read the ones that were here.
I decided to see what the Collage Box Oracle had to say about it. A bit enigmatic, but then with Crow hanging around, I suppose that’s to be expected.
the world between why–
the opening of our reimagined eyes–
and does it explore possibilities?
light and shadow speak plainly in the proper context.
matter conjures time—
women play their parts.
I’m taking a break to spend some R&R with family. See you the end of the month!
