The Ekphrastic Review

Poem up at The Ekphrastic Review

the water under the bridge s

My poem “the water under the bridge” is included in The Ekphrastic Review’s Victor Gontarov Challenge responses.  Gontarov’s painting is entitled “Gogol’s Dream”, and many of the responses did refer to the writer and his work.  I chose to focus on the dream.

mermaid s

Sometimes the formatting does not come through, and that was the case this time, so I’ve included the poem below with the correct line spacings.

this disordered arrangement
it cannot remain
as it is it is

always somewhere else
transparent shadow
what it was it was

a current of emotion
a glimpse of possibility
what could be could be

a conjuring that takes
and spends itself in fragments
what is not is not

no single body holds it
it cannot be arrayed
what it is it is

always disconnected
from story, form, the why
and what if what if

man s

My thanks to editor Lorette C. Luzajic for once again featuring my work.

Poem up at The Ekphrastic Review

salome s

My poem “personifications” is posted along with the others selected for the challenge artwork “Salome” by Henri Regnault on The Ekphrastic Review today.

Regnault’s piece is well known but not typical of artists’ interpretations of the Biblical story (which has been altered in our consciousness by time and retelling also).  Most painters choose to show either the dance, perhaps accompanied by a disembodied head, or a close up of a woman with a head on a platter.  Here we have a woman, sitting, with a platter and a sword but no head.  Is it supposed to be empowerment?

salome top s

My collage, too, follows neither common narrative.  I knew I had a dark female figure in the collage box that I wanted to use, and in the search for her I pulled out other elements that seemed to fit with her and my poem.

salome bottom s

I always thought the story of Salome was just another example of humans refusing to take responsibility for their own actions and desires.  None of the behavior, certainly, merits imitation.  Blind obedience is just as bad as passing the buck (see: current world “leaders” and their followers…)

Once again, thanks to Review editor Lorette C. Luzajic for selecting my poem and supporting the call and response of poetry and art.  You can read all the poetry and see the original artwork here.

I also really like Redon’s Salome, below.

salome redon

 

Poem up at The Ekphrastic Review

end of the day s

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.

end of the day close up s

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.

Poem up at The Ekphrastic Review

hallowed be s

My poem “Hallowed Be” is among the responses to Goya’s “El Conjuro” posted today at The Ekphrastic Review.

hallowed be top s

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).

hallowed be bottom s

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

Poem up at The Ekphrastic Review

Henry Darger blk s

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.

darger flower doll s

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.

darger butterfly doll s

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.

Poem up at The Ekphrastic Review

rothko 3 blk s

“Silence is so accurate”—Mark Rothko

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.

rothko 1 wht s

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.

rothko 2 blk s

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 come undone (beast by beast)

she's come undone s

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.

she's come undone close up s

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.