 "Knitting Madonna,” detail from The Buxtehude Altar, by Master Bertram (modern Germany) c. 1400-10 Knitting Madonna Jesus has grown — no manger bed, no showers of stars — to bide in shade of appled trees. For now, casting off childish toys, he reads in passing peace amid the snake’s head flowers while Mary knits, arrayed in cheerful gown to greet two angels clad in pinks and greens, as though their festive Sunday best would ease the somber word they bring of somber hours. So Jesus lays aside his book — he knows before he marks the angels’ hold on lance and thorny crown and threefold nails and cross. His wistful smile reveals he understands the angel watching Mary grieve her loss, his seamless robe unfinished in her hands. Clare Bryden Clare Bryden is a writer and web developer based in Exeter, UK. Her interests are wide-ranging, but primarily the place of humanity within the natural world of which we are part, and the related theology and psychology of connectedness. Her poetry has been published in Ink Sweat and Tears, The Christian Century and the British Dental Journal among others. In 2025 she achieved 111 rejections. In 2026 she could finally start harvesting asparagus from her garden.
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 The Burning Giraffe, by Salvador Dali (Spain) 1937 Sacred Bones The body keeps scores of secrets, stored in my chest of little drawers and pulled like a strung muscle at inconvenient minutes. In a past life I must have been a witch, considering I am defeated by lukewarm shower water. This is the burning of a woman wandering the desert, ready to set the Sahara in flames if only to find a fluid ounce of truth, a drop of relief. This pain peels back my crust, reveals what swirls blue and what bleeds sinew. I know my past is spilling sentences of heroic women, but I am too far veiled in the future to know them. I never met my grandmother, only read about her in the newspaper, how she knew her way with a pillow and poisoned clam chowder. My mother loved me until I grew into my own legs, developed an allergy to arsenic. In this life, women are sacred bones scaffolded by someone else’s crutches, and we are too tired to release them. We rise in dreams, count hope by the hairs on our crown. A lightning storm rages in my soles and fingertips, which I want to uproot and interrogate: where did you begin, and when will you let me be at sea? Courtney Edwards Courtney Edwards is an English teacher and photographer from Portland, OR. Her work has been published by The West Trade Review, Pile Press, The New Zealand Poetry Society, Sonora Review, Suspended Magazine, and Wild Roof Journal. Courtney enjoys traveling, exploring the PNW with her husband and three children, playing the piano, and helping to bring sea otters back to Oregon through the Elakha Alliance. You can connect with her on Instagram at @pnw.courtney If you haven't yet signed up for something at The Ekphrastic Academy, give one of our live zoom workshops a try! Our live zoom workshops on art, ekphrasis, and writing are all about creativity, connection, and conversation. Fun, affordable, and inspiring, we have a wide variety of topics on art history, writer's craft, and various themes. Check out some of the upcoming sessions below, or see them all by clicking The Ekphrastic Academy on the menu above. Ekphrasis Anonymous is a monthly meeting for ekphrastic addicts, a purely generative session of four to six curated art prompts and lots of writing exercises. Artist-focused sessions ahead include Chagall and Twombly. Or bring your scissors and some wine or tea for our surreal collage sip and snip night. There are lots of single session zooms, but we also have longer classes with Women on Writing!, Litro Magazine, and the London Arts Based Research Centre. Classes ahead include Poetry Inspired by Sharon Olds, Compelling Conflicts in Flash Fiction, Tarot and Flash Fiction, and The Story of Symbols. Find out more about these courses: The Ekphrastic Academy. Marc Chagall: the Colours of Love and Hope
CA$40.00
Marc Chagall stated repeatedly that the driving force behind his colourful artwork was love, and that love was what mattered most to him. He was no stranger to hardship and trauma, but devoted himself to beauty and joy. Join us as we dive into the life and work of this prolific artist, and write a couple of poems or story drafts inspired by his paintings. Ekphrasis Anonymous August
CA$40.00
Ekphrasis Anonymous is our new monthly generative writing session with ekphrastic prompts. This is for ekphrastic addicts and aspiring ones! Each session will include a curated selection of diverse artworks and prompt ideas for brainstorming and generating poetry or fiction. We will look at and discuss each artwork briefly, then spend time writing. We will have a few minutes to talk about our process and the option for a couple of people to share their drafts after each exercise. The curated artworks will be a grab-bag each time, from different artists, eras, styles, and cultures, chosen to inspire your writing and challenge you to new directions. Night in My Veins
CA$40.00
In this generative session, we will focus on art and ekphrasis on some of the deeper and darker themes of the human experience, such as grief, loss, fear, illness, or evil. It's an opportunity to look at artists exploring important themes, and a chance to write honestly from the soul on topics that require the same reflection and consideration as happy ones. We will look at a variety of artworks and write from several during class. Cy Twombly: art, life, poetry
CA$40.00
What's the deal with Cy Twombly? Join us to discuss the life and work of this American artist, and use several paintings for inspiration for our own poetry or stories. Twombly is a polarizing figure in the art world. His wall sized scribbled abstractions routinely fetch tens of millions of dollars from museums and collectors, with other observers left shaking their heads. He has influenced countless contemporary artists toward a free and messy aesthetic. Whether his work amazes or infuriates, join the discussion and discover what was behind this artist's enigmatic work. We will look especially closely at the influence of poetry in Cy's art. Note, we are in Canada so checkout prices are in Canadian dollars. Your bank will make the currency exchange automatically. $40 Canadian dollars is approximately $29 USD. The current exchange rate changes daily but is around 30 percent. Surrealist Collage: Sip and Snip Night
CA$40.00
Join us for a cut and paste night as we gather together to create our own surrealist collages. Please note our prices are in Canadian dollars because we are in Canada. Your card or PayPal account will convert it to the day's exchange rates. The exchange will make your price if you are in the US around $29 USD. We will look briefly at what surrealism is, then let our imaginations go wild as we make our own collage during class time. While we work, we will also look at surrealist art examples and surrealist collages, for inspiration. Surrealism draws from random juxtaposition and chance, from the unconscious, and from dreams. Bring scissors and a glue stick, paper to work on, and magazines or books that can be cut up. You can collect specific images that you want to use. A PDF of various imagery will be sent out before the class, that you can print up and cut out if desired. Feel free to bring paints, markers, pencil crayons, pastels, and anything else you want to use. Bring a glass of wine or a pot of tea as we relax, converse, and work together. Graveyard Ghosts: the cemetery in art history
CA$40.00
Join us for a tour through the tomb yard in art history, as we look at fascinating paintings of cemeteries and use several as inspiration for spooky or dark poetry or flash. Note, we are in Canada so checkout prices are in Canadian dollars. Your bank will make the currency exchange automatically. $40 Canadian dollars is approximately $29 USD. The current exchange rate changes daily but is around 30 percent. Christ in Art: Divinity, Devotion, Doubt
CA$40.00
The figure of Christ is one of the most important themes in western art history. Biblical narratives centred on Jesus are the subject of countless paintings and sculptures from ancient times to present day. Christ is a symbol of suffering, sacrifice, salvation, God's love, and the Divine in human form. He has also been the subject of scorn and disbelief. Join us for a whirlwind tour of famous and less familiar artworks of Christ, secret symbolism, and mystery, from the distant past to modern times. Learn how different artists approached the Christ story, whether inspired by church commissions or personal devotion. We will use a couple of artworks to inspire our own poems or stories. Holiday Greeting Cards Collage Night: sip and snip
CA$40.00
Join us for a collage night to make handmade greeting cards to share with friends and family for the holidays. Bring scissors, a glue stick, and card blanks (you can also just fold paper to make a card.) Bring books or magazines to cut up. We will provide a document with assorted holiday themed imagery that you are welcome to print up and cut if you wish. In this session, we will look at a variety of amusing and beautiful new and vintage greeting cards for inspiration and entertainment, as well as holiday collages. Bring your favourite wine or a pot of tea as we sip, snip, chat, and relax together. Note, we are in Canada so checkout prices are in Canadian dollars. Your bank will make the currency exchange automatically. $40 Canadian dollars is approximately $29 USD. The current exchange rate changes daily but is around 30 percent. Ghost Stories Collage Night: sip and snip
CA$40.00
By popular request, we have occasional collage night sessions. Bring scissors, a glue stick, and some books and magazines to cut up. You can also bring paints, crayons, pastels and anything else you want to play with. We will provide an additional document with some random spooky images that you are welcome to print up and cut if you wish. Tonight you will create your own ghost story with collage and mixed media. We will look at examples of Halloween art and collage, possible themes such as haunted houses, and what kinds of symbols and motifs you might choose to include in your creation. Bring your favourite wine or a pot of tea and we sip, snip, chat, and relax together.  Garden of Earthly Delights, by Hieronymus Bosch (Netherlands) 1500 The Sun is Afire on My Brain The sun is afire on my brain in Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Delights, I pray for a shower of cooling rain. The sun has become a dog that’s trained to leap the junkyard fence and bite, the sun is afire on my brain. Sun once sweetening country lanes before the purple swan took flight, I pray for a shower of cooling rain. No baby Jesus asleep in the hay, nor umbrellas of moons will help tonight, the sun is afire on my brain. Sun, be more than surrealist paint, be, at least, soft candlelight, I pray for a shower of cooling rain for the flowers and all the world as we strain to live and laugh and grow in your sight. The sun is afire on my brain, I pray for a shower of cooling rain. Lee Stockdale Lee Stockdale has won the United Kingdom National Poetry Prize, Montana Prize for Humor, Sidney Lanier Poetry Prize, Atlanta Review International Merit Award, other awards, and is author of Bronxville (Finishing Line Press) and Gorilla (Main Street Rag). His mother was a poet, and his childhood home was filled with art; for Lee, ekphrastic poetry is like coming home. Lee serves as a North Carolina Poetry Society Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet and lives in the Western North Carolina Mountains with his wife, a potter and, like Lee also a veteran, where they practice hot yoga and feed the wild turkeys. leestockdale.com  Away She Goes, by Memy Ish-Shalom (USA) 2025 Away “A Wicked Hand.” Dahlia Ravikovitch Up and away I go, I sway away, far from your hand, far from your wicked hand. Away I go, right now, I will not wait. She’s there, I know, I see her every day. I’ll get to her and only then I’ll land. Up and away I go, I sway away. I always dream of her, I dream awake. I know she is not far, she is at hand. Away I go, right now, I will not wait. As surely as a shore awaits a wave, she’s there for me, she’s there, my promised land. Up and away I go, I sway away. You will implore, you’ll ask for one more day, you’ll vow to change yourself, you’ll vow you can, but I will go, right now, I will not wait – My Freedom calls me, so I cannot stay. I will break free and never fear your hand. Up and away I go, I sway away. Away I go, right now, I will not wait.  Higher! by Memy Ish-Shalom (USA) 2026 Swinging in the Park “Much higher, higher!” you so clearly call. “Just push me hard, like Grandma does,” you cry. “Don’t worry, not at all, I will not fall.” You raise your hand up high as if to try and reach the floating clouds to feel their fluff. “I want to get there, see them close, all right?” You close your eyes to conjure up the sight. You open them: “You don’t push hard enough! oh Mom, you can’t, you really can’t,” you sigh. “No one but Grandma can,” you add. You laugh. Dalia Ardon Dalia Ardon: "After living most of my life in Israel, I emigrated some years ago to the U.S. I have published two books of Hebrew poetry: Dazzled (2020, New World Press, Tel Aviv, Israel); Suddenly, Over the Blue (2022, Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House Ltd., Bnei-Brak, Israel), the latter is a collection of ekphrastic poems, relating to paintings, photo-collages and sculptures by six artists."  Towards the Rainbow, by Joan Miró (Spain) 1941 Caged in Chaos: The bridge towards Heaven has broken and Hell’s dancing imps have banned me. The cackling hags greet me in darkness when the brightest star falls. The entrance to my soul breaks. I see the blood leak and atrocities keep circling me. Time and waves are finite in the never-ending darkness of life. Chaotic harlequins harvest the seeds condemned to never grow. The Reaper distorts his scythe when life ends with nothing worthwhile. In chaos, I lose myself or shelter from my pains. Will the clouds reveal the rainbow so that I may escape and truly live? Or will I keep crying, drowning, and trapping myself in chaos?  Awakening In The Early Morning, by Joan Miró (Spain) 1941 Beasts Before Dawn: The golden-eyed tapirs, awaken and alert the green flying fish. They have many duties to perform before the sun can rise. They look for men and women and order them to end their howling night of human passions. They calm the Magma Dame whose stomachs and brains have growled all night long. The green flying fish must chase the blue stars that hide in nebulas. The moon refuses to hide but like a stray cat, she’s chased out by the golden-eyed tapirs. All that work before dawn. The extraordinary beasts have completed the tasks that must be done. The sun arrives and they transform into average critters.  The Poetess, by Joan Miró (Spain) 1940 Broken: She looked at the night for inspiration when the day outright ignored her. “Can’t a star like you bring influence?” “Are you worth inspiring?” She sees the heads of bluebirds singing in the twilight. Twilight is past a bluebird’s bedtime. She sees the cosmic shrimp comforting the red eclipse way past dusk. “My partner left me! Said I was too red!” The lunar eclipse cried. “That mongoose with an olm’s face left me for a white crescent moon! He left me with these blue stars to raise all on my own!” She pitied the betrayed eclipse. After finding inspiration, she learned that Day abandoned the eclipse. Day was all take and no give.  Woman and Birds, by Joan Miró (Spain) 1940 Whining To The Moon: She wailed her woes at the pale moon in the dusty dusk of summer, silencing the loudest of parrots and frightening local parasites. “Oh, Moon! Life is just so unfair! I move faster than an avalanche yet I get compared to seven snails!” “I like to move my way with patience. The same routine every month helps me reach my brightest spot.” “Your candle to another’s bonfire? That’s your basis for comparison? Are you serious?” “As serious as the sea’s most tranquil tide and the tiger waiting for its dinner.” The Moon leaves her to resume her journey. After all, the Moon may have patience, but she knows she can’t satisfy the whims of mortal women.  The Escape Ladder, by Joan Miró (Spain) 1940 The Parasite: Sadness is the dark parasite that worms its way around my veins, stinking like balsamic vinegar and choking me like raw oysters. Sadness is a smiling spider that drinks my blood like cheap Cabernet when it’s not even Saturday night. Sadness is a critical parent shaming my passions as dull distractions and I hide myself in my Tartarus. Sadness is the closest of all the stars. I never asked to be in the spotlight but she forced me to go underneath it. Will I ever escape this parasite that keeps dictating my way of life? Can this parasite untether its existence from my own? Celine Krempp Celine is a French-American artist and writer. Working part-time as a security guard in cultural institutions inspire Celine with her ekphrastic writing. Her works, written and illustrated, have been featured in The Ekphrastic Review (December 2025) and The Light Ekphrastic (February 2026). When she’s not brainstorming her next creative project, she walks her dog VanGogh, reads books, indulges in sweet cravings, and reads her favorite French comic books for the millionth time. Celine shares her artworks on her Instagram account, @ck_arts122, and projects on her Linkedin profile.
 Rage, by Shary Boyle (Canada) 2022. Porcelain, underglaze, china paint, glazes, gold lustre, gold chain. 33 x 52 x 30 cm. Photo by John Jones. Courtesy of the artist. When Women are Eels We emerge from the river of forgetfulness and remember that our strength is neither ugly nor hideous. Our faces are no longer twisted in contortions of fear and then chided for being grotesque. We smile with our pointed teeth in righteous anger and call it beauty. With these jaws we swallow restrain and silence. Twice. We refuse to be shamed into believing that your umbrella of misogyny gives us protection. We are new Neptunes bearing our own tridents. Shiny moments come when we crawl from the wishing wells of myth, claw our way out of the dank depths of cautionary tales and if they try to make us mermaids from fairy stories, so we can’t run, then we’ll cut off our own legs and become eels. Our red rimmed eyes see the bright truth of your underworld and will no longer keep your secrets hidden in the corners of nightmares. On our heads we place a crown of power; no weighted halo of unwanted purity. We clothe ourselves in red sequins of rage and these gold chains no longer tie us down but support the heaving weight of flaming hope within our breasts. Red, we finally celebrate, is the colour of strong and muscular things. Blood and life. Lips that part and parse the silence of desires. An offering of transformation from shame to pride. Our wisdom is dark and slithering. Grounded. We are not fragile figurines. We are warriors. Lorraine Ryan Lorraine Ryan lives and writes from the unceded and ancestral lands of Mi’kma’ki on Ponhook Lake. She is a recently retired high school English teacher and enjoys her new gift of time writing poetry. They are the recipient of the 2026 Nova Writes Rita Joe Poetry Prize for their Poetry Suite, Demise of a Forest Model. Their work explores themes of geographical connections and familial fractures. Ekphrastic Haiku after Hedy Habra (Chinese Ink Brush & Watercolours on Rice Paper)  Fiery Blossoms Over Bridge, by Hedy Habra (USA, b. Egypt) 2018 snow-capped rakaposhi oyamazakura envelop the shangrila, hunza * Rakaposhi (Burushaski): Shining Wall. Rakaposhi (aka Dumani: Mother of Mist) is a mountain situated in the middle of the Nagar and Bagrote Valleys, Himalayas, Pakistan.  Rooster on One Leg, by Hedy Habra (USA, b. Egypt) 2018 a.m. alpenglow … cock-a-doodle-doo ceases r.e.m.  Dancing Egret, by Hedy Habra (USA, b. Egypt) 2018 petrichor … night heron trances to psithurism through pines  Fishermen and Reeds, by Hedy Habra (USA, b. Egypt) 2018 kitaura-gyofu … medaka evade hobikiami concealed among tsunoyoshi * Kitaura-gyofu (Japanese): Fishermen of Lake Kitaura, Japan. Medaka (Japanese): Japanese Rice Fish. Hobikiami (Japanese): Renowned Japanese fishing technique. Tsunoyoshi (Japanese): Japanese Reed.  Egrets and Lotus, by Hedy Habra (USA, b. Egypt) 2018 shrimpless stream-- chusagi lodge gravamen with buddha hasu * Chusagi (Japanese): White egrets (w/ black-tipped bill). Hasu (Japanese): Lotus.  Sunset and Crane, by Hedy Habra (USA, b. Egypt) 2018 p.m. civil twilight-- tanchōzuru closes game, retires to reedmace su * Tanchōzuru (Japanese): Red-crowned crane. Su (Japanese): Nest.  Monkey Chasing Moon Reflection, by Hedy Habra (USA, b. Egypt) 2017 nyctophilia – himalayan langur schemes to steal suigetsu * Suigetsu (Japanese): Moon’s reflection.  Blue Blossoms, by Hedy Habra (USA b. Egypt) 2018 ai-zakura-- amrita of kamigami, of furō fushi * Ai-zakura (Japanese): Indigo Sakura. Kamigami (Japanese): The gods. Furō fushi (Japanese): Eternal youth. Saad Ali Saad Ali is a poet-philosopher, literary translator, and author from the UK and Pakistan. He has translated Lorette C. Luzajic’s selected ekphrases into Urdu. His poems & micro/flash fictions appear in an array of multidimensional literary journals/magazines and anthologies, including The Ekphrastic Review, The Mackinaw, Jackdaw Review, The Haiku Shack Magazine, among others. His poetry has been translated into Arabic. His work has been nominated for the Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and Best Small Fictions. His ekphrases have been showcased at art exhibitions in Alberta (Canada), Queensland (Australia), and Seattle (USA). Visit him at: https://linktr.ee/owlofpines. Hedy Habra is a poet, artist, and essayist. Her latest poetry collection, Or Did You Ever See The Other Side?, won International Poetry Book Awards and was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer and USA Best Book Awards. The Taste of the Earth won the Silver Nautilus Book Award and Honorable Mention for the Eric Hoffer Book Award. Tea in Heliopolis won the Best Book Award, and Under Brushstrokes was a finalist for the International Book Award. Her story collection, Flying Carpets, won the Arab American Book Award’s Honorable Mention and was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award. Her book of criticism is Mundos alternos y artísticos en Vargas Llosa. She is a twenty-five-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net and a recipient of the Nazim Hikmet Award. https://www.hedyhabra.com/  Pine Trees and the Moon, by Hishida Shunso (Japan) 1906 Dusk Triolet Blurred pine trees meet like souls in skies as thin as paper. Alone, the full moon strolls, blurred. Pine trees meet like souls; the boughs, like fish, form shoals. Shifting in twilight’s vapour, blurred pine trees meet. Like souls, the skies are thin as paper. Ramya Yandava Ramya Yandava lives in Boston. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Oxonian Review, The Society of Classical Poets, The Classical Outlook, and Merion West. She writes the newsletter Soul-Making at soulmaking.xyz. |
The Ekphrastic Review
COOKIES/PRIVACY
August 2026
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