Ekphrastic Challenge by Rattle [Prizes of Rs. 8k & an Online Publication]: Submit Poems by Oct 31!

Submissions are invited for the Ekphrastic Challenge by Rattle. Submit your best pieces of poetry by October 31, 2023, and win exciting prizes!

Rattle is a publication of the Rattle Foundation, an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organisation whose mission is to promote the practice of poetry, and is not affiliated with any other organisation.

Rattle is a quarterly poetry magazine founded in 1994, published in Los Angeles in the United States. It publishes poems both by established writers, such as Philip Levine, Jane Hirshfield, Billy Collins, Sharon Olds, Gregory Orr, Patricia Smith, and Anis Mojgani, and by new and emerging poets.

There’s a long tradition of poetry responding to visual art (and vice versa), and we thought it would be fun to post a challenge. For the first, Judy Keown, cover artist from issue #45, donated a photograph of an argiope spider. We gave poets a month to respond to this photograph in verse, and received 266 entries. Judy Keown and Rattle’s Timothy Green each selected their favorite poem from the submissions and published them online at Rattle.com.

Given how many people seemed to enjoy the Ekphrastic Challenge, we’ve decided to make it a monthly series, using open submissions of artwork when necessary. Visual artists who would like to participate can submit work now through the end of December, by going here.

If you’re a poet, visit their website every month to find a new piece of art to inspire your poetry. You’ll have one month to write and submit your poems. Each month, two winners—one chosen by the artist and the other by Rattle’s editor—will receive online publication and $100 each (about Rs. 8k).

For the month of October, our image is the piece below by Arthur Lawrence.

October 31, 2023.

To submit your poems, click here.

Image taken from here.