20 Poem Challenge Returns

La Sirena, by Lorette C. Luzajic (b. Canada), 2016.

GOOD NEWS!!!

The 20 Poem Challenge returns.

Long awaited by first year participants, long feared by the uninitiated...

Fear not. The rules and regulations are easy. You commit to Ekphrastic but mostly to yourself to write 20 poems in 20 days.

Each morning, the first 20 mornings of September, The Ekphrastic Review will post a prompt.

You write something from that visual art prompt.

There is no reward and no penalty. The commitment is simply an exercise, a discipline, a practice, a creative outlet.

There is no fee. We do not believe in charging writers to read or publish their work. We do humbly request gifts on our GIFT page if you or your sponsors believe in what we do at  Ekphrastic. All gifts will go toward the time of grooming and growing Ekphrastic. 

You can finish as many or as few as works for you; you can tell everyone or no one. No one will know. It's between you and the lord of the poetry rings.

You can write prose, flash fiction, or poetry. Most people will write poetry, but you can participate with any kind of writing.

There are no rules. The Ekphrastic Review asks only that you honour your commitment if you make it: to write for every prompt over 20 days.

If your work turns out good enough in your mind, you are welcome to submit it to The Ekphrastic Review. This can be on the same day, or two months, or two years later.

Only submit the best of your finished poems. Please do not inundate us with drafts of everything.

If a poem didn't work, keep working, or move on. It's all good. The goal is to honour the commitment and see where it leads.

All that matters is that you take the plunge and spend five to fifty minutes per day, however long you want to dedicate, to play at what you might discover by doing so.

Oodles of great poems will be published in Ekphrastic, but there's no way all the worthy poems can or will be. The goal is personal, practical, and fun.

Some of the paintings or artworks will be familiar. None will be expected.

The challenge begins September 1 and ends September 28th, with prompts posted on weekday mornings. You can submit your greatest hits from September 1 through until the end of time.

That's it. There's nowhere to "sign up." You can let me know, but it's more important that you let yourself know. The commitment is to yourself and to poetry. Just say yes. Just do it. It's fun.

Who's in???

Forget your neurosis. Whether you are a street kid or Margaret Atwood, just do it.

Participate. Try. Grow. Succeed. Fail. Last year, we had some widely published, respected poets. And we had my father, who spent 40 years in a factory, and wrote his first poems ever during the challenge. The Ekphrastic Review has published first timers like Dad as well as Harvard educated writers and Pulitzer Prize winning professors. You have to start somewhere, and if you're already a genius, you need a twist and some fun for new perspective. Join us.

Please share this with all your friends. This project last year was instrumental in getting the word out at the beginning of The Ekphrastic Review. Tell your friends you are doing the challenge.  We are committed to growing this journal so that YOU can be seen.

We cannot believe the response and readership and quality and volume of submissions in TER's first year. The Ekphrastic Review struck at a cord in a big way. We hope that the time spent programming this  year's challenge will increase awareness of this special niche journal of literary works inspired by visual art. Just share it on your social networks a million times and thank you so much!!! We look forward to your inspired works!

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