Ekphrastic Review

Desolation ~ with audio

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 24 Comments

 

Desolation

Rock and snow my prison cell
Stranded in the midst of beauty
Blue waves and sky no consolation
Thoughts of rescue from this desolation

Now as distant as a passing ship,
With its snapping sails
A faint syncopation
Against the murmur of swans

Taunting me from afar
The freedom of their aerial maneuvers
Bringing only profound sadness
Each passing day

The spark of hope dimmer
Until frozen
Splintering, shattering
Finally gone

“Desolation” has it’s roots in a poem I wrote for a prompt from Jane Dougherty and subsequently edited for The Ekphrastic Review, where it was published in October 2018.  It was inspired by In the Blue Expanse, by Arkady Rylov, and can be found here.

Shared with OpenLinkNight #299 at dVerse ~ Poets Pub.

Empty Landscape ~ ekphrastic poem

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 12 Comments

Empty Landscape

What is parting
when neither wishes to leave?

Far from ignoring the distance
between us, we embrace a landscape
that becomes more barren
the greater that distance.

Once close, it seems we are meant to be
apart, even as we are together.

This poem was written as a response to an ekphrastic challenge at The Ekphrastic Review, but it didn’t make the cut. Even as I submitted it I knew it’s a poem that is still unfinished. Perhaps that’s a reflection of a scene that is, itself, unfinished. In the painting, “Figures in a Landscape,” by Bertram Brooker, I see the despair of having a need to part without the willingness to do so.

Responses to the challenge can be found here,
including two fine examples by Merril Smith and Kim Russel.

Image source: Art Canada Institute

The New Bucephalus ~ ekphrastic poem

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 9 Comments

The New Bucephalus

From both great heights
and the most common level,
many have fallen, and more
will follow. Decide for yourself.
Are you invincible in your little corner
of the world? There is no comfort
when all is in shadow and many
have succumbed to a tyrant
wearing a crown of death.

The Ekphrastic Review offered Edgar Ende’s The New Bucephalus in Ekphrastic Writing Challenge Prompt: Edgar Ende. While my submission did not meet the bar, there are some wonderful selections that were chosen, including those by Kerfe Roig, Merril Smith, and Kim Russel, and they can be read here.

One of the most famous horses of antiquity,
Bucephalus was the horse of Alexander the Great.

Image source: artnet.com

Poem Up at the Ekphrastic Review

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 18 Comments

My poem “without, as within” appears at Ekphrastic Writing Challenge Responses: Guillermo Wiedemann. It can be seen here, with many other deserving reads. The inspiration for the challenge is the painting “Figure (1959),” by Guillermo Wiedemann. Something tells me the current pandemic had something to say about this painting.

My thanks go to Lorette C. Luzajic, Editor at The Ekphrastic Review, for including my poem.

Ken G.

Guiding Lights ~ with audio

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 20 Comments

 

Guiding Lights

Awake in this moment
our concerns far behind us,
we make our way,
reflecting on direction.

Beneath the gaze
of a thousand million souls,
guided by their light,
our path is chosen.

Our course made clear,
we embrace the calm
that descends upon us
going forward, together.

“Guiding Lights” was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night Over the Rhone
and originally appeared at The Ekphrastic Review in September 2018.

Image source: Starry Night Over the Rhone/Vincent van Gogh (Wikipedia)

End This Endless Sunset – ekphrastic poem

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 14 Comments

End This Endless Sunset

Where do the seasons take us?
Is direction relevant
when the sun repeatedly sets
and the promise inherent in a sunrise
refuses to reveal itself?

Give me the promise of a spring
that cannot be denied, with clouds
to reflect that sunrise, not threaten
an unending storm to hold us back.

The Ekphrastic Review, with guest editor Janette Shafer offered Emilio Boggio’s Fin de la Jornada in The Emilio Boggio Ekphrastic Challenge. While I received encouraging comments from Janette, my submission did not make the final cut.  There are some wonderful selections that were chosen, including those by Kerfe Roig and Merril Smith, and they can be read here.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons – Fin de la Jornada, by Emilio Boggio

Poem Up at The Ekphrastic Review ~&~ Mark Rothko Blues

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 22 Comments

My poem “the differences subtle” appears at Ekphrastic Writing Challenge Responses: Mark Rothko. It can be seen here, with other deserving reads. The painting “Untitled (Black on Red, 1957),” by Mark Rothko, is the inspiration for the challenge.  Once again, I’m fortunate to be on the same page as Kerfe Roig.
My thanks go to Lorette C. Luzajic, Editor at The Ekphrastic Review, for including my poem.

After submitting this, I read about the “Rothko” in a post by Paul Szlosek, and I decide to try the form. The “Rothko” was created by poet Bob Holman. Following Mark Rothko’s practice of using three distinct colors, it contains three lines, three words per line, in a tic-tac-toe pattern (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) – written while standing in front of a Rothko painting (here, viewing the image).

Mark Rothko Blues

red heat surrounding
scarlet barely surviving
blackness consuming all

Ken G.

Image source: Tate – Untitled (Black on Red, 1957), by Mark Rothko

Poem Up at The Ekphrastic Review

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 20 Comments

My poem “Imperfectly Purified” appears at Ekphrastic Writing Challenge Responses: Cristobal Rojas.  It can be seen here, with other deserving reads.  The painting “El Purgatorio,” by Cristobal Rojas is the inspiration for the challenge, and I am pleased that Kerfe Roig is among the poets with whom I share recognition.
My thanks go to Guest Editor Janette Schafer at The Ekphrastic Review, for including my poem.

Ken G.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons – El Purgatorio, by Cristobal Rojas