“Squint” painting by Colin Page
Join our fourth annual ekphrastic challenge, a collaboration between Page Gallery and The Poets Corner. The art will be available for viewing online on October 13, and with viewing in the gallery as of October 17, 2024.
Submit a poem in response to any one of the images in the 2024 Art & Ekphrastic Poetry exhibition. Submissions open October 13 and close on October 29. Beginning October 13, we will accept submissions through Submittable.
Ten poets will be selected to read their poems on The Poets Corner over Zoom on Sunday, November 10. (Selected poets will be notified by November 5).
Artists will also make their own selections of poems to be read in the gallery (live) on Saturday, November 16.
You do not need to live in the local area to submit to the challenge - the entire exhibition can be viewed online.
Every year, the poets and the artists carefully deliberate over the submissions and curate a delightful mix of responses for the virtual and in-gallery readings. The submission fee is $3, which helps to cover the costs of the challenge. Middle or high school students entering the contest may request a free Student Submission form by emailing thepoetscornermaine@gmail.com or kirsten@thepagegallery.com. We encourage all submissions!
What is ekphrastic poetry?
This is an excellent description written by Jackie Craven on thoughtco.com 11.5.18:
“Ekphrastic poetry explores art. Using a rhetorical device known as ekphrasis, the poet engages with a painting, drawing, sculpture, or other form of visual art. Poetry about music and dance might also be considered a type of ekphrastic writing.
The term ekphrastic (also spelled ecphrastic) originates from a Greek expression for description. The earliest ekphrastic poems were vivid accounts of real or imagined scenes. Through effusive use of details, writers in ancient Greece aspired to transform the visual into the verbal. Later poets moved beyond description to reflect on deeper meanings. Today, the word ekphrastic can refer to any literary response to a non-literary work.