Joan of Arc
 
Led by angelic voices to defend
the former Dauphin’s interests in France,
she struggled first and foremost to befriend
those who would hear and heed her, take a chance
on such a maiden’s claim to apprehend
the will of God. Too many looked askance
at this strange girl—until she could transcend
all peasant and provincial happenstance
with victory at Orléans, attend
in Reims a coronation, then advance
the kingdom. How she managed to offend
her foes! Their vengefulness served to enhance
her righteous calling through the fiery end
of martyrdom—so far beyond romance.

Jane Blanchard

This sonnet, first published in The French Literary Review, is the work of Jane Blanchard, who lives and writes in Georgia (USA).  Jane’s latest collection is Never Enough Already (2021). Amazon.com: Never Enough Already

Open All Night
  
Let’s stay out late, light’s a shrine,  
each lit storefront a refuge.
Let’s prowl the streets, 
echoes of our own after-curfew 
footsteps stalking us.
Neon is Main street’s candlelight--
photons streaming through
a slender glass tube 
like cocktails through a plastic straw.
Maybe we’ll find a tavern 
with a fake fireplace,
mirrors garish with longing.  
Everyone selling the good news 
of easy camaraderie. 
We can hear a woman’s laughter,
nervous little shrieks fluting its edges 
like the crimping on Mom’s apple pie.
Gene Kelly never danced on this street,
never sang to these lampposts, 
never sloshed on the shine 
of this sidewalk. 
This isn’t home and the heart doesn’t
ache for anyone here.
You can leave the sad stories behind,
unless they’re your own.
​
Jeanne Wagner  

Jeanne Wagner is the author of four chapbooks and three full-length collections: The Zen Piano-mover, winner of the NFSPS Poetry Prize, In the Body of Our lives, Sixteen Rivers Press and Everything Turns Into Something Else, published in 2020 as runner-up for the Grayson Books Prize. Her work has appeared in Alaska Review, Cincinnati Review, North American Review, Florida Review, and The Southern Review. 
 

To Edwaert Collier Regarding Vanitas Still Life

Your somber work so cloaks our fate
in dote on darkness we await...
...where candlestick you've overturned
held flame of hope so long that burned...

...and silence wafts as music made
from instruments no longer played...
...and nib with ink forever dried
has left unfinished work implied...

...and books in which we've bound our dread
are turned to ground we fear to tread...
...and yet your globe shows daring's yen
as map to be redrawn again...

...when treasures pass with blood that flows
to future faith, in darkness, grows.

Portly Bard

Portly Bard: Old man.  Ekphrastic fan.

Prefers to craft with sole intent
of verse becoming complement...
...and by such homage being lent...
ideally also compliment.

​On November 27, 2021, TER editor will be speaking about ekphrastic writing at the Great Flash Throwdown online. 

There are multiple all day flash fiction conferences throughout the winter. If you haven't done the online Flash Fiction Festival, don't miss out! Sponsored by  Bath Flash Fiction Award and Ad Hoc Fiction, and organized by the amazing Jude Higgins, these events feature an array of literary luminaries, great readings, publishing tips, panel discussions, interviews, writing exercises, and more. There is even yoga stretching for writers to make the computer haul bearable. 

The flash fiction days are a lot of fun, a great learning experience, and a chance to meet writers online.

We are very excited about introducing flash writers to the joys of ekphrastic writing!

https://www.flashfictionfestival.com/programme/

Join us this Sunday afternoon from 2 to 4 pm EST for an ekphrastic writing workshop with moon-themed artworks!

The moon has been an intriguing subject throughout art history. We will look at and discuss a selection of artworks and let them inspire poetry and short stories.

Our workshops so far have been lively, creative, productive, and fun. 

This is our second theme-specific workshop and we hope to have more!

The new challenge prompt has been posted! Check out the rules here, or click on the image above.

Song of Violet  

Another grey day, dreams begin to slow down, our
limbs become heavy as old leather suitcases.
Light falls, has nowhere else to go. Where it touches
shadows grow, spreading petals of darkness.
 
If time could pause, even for a moment, this would be it.
Strangers passing, we ignore each other, deny 
at heart we’re the same, clothed in blank stares, frozen feelings,
clutching in our hands a fragile parcel of self.

Colin Pink

Colin Pink lives in London, England. He writes fiction, plays and poetry. He has published three collections of poetry: Acrobats of Sound (2016), The Ventriloquist Dummy’s Lament (2019) and Typicity (2021). Colin Pink - D & W PUBLISHING - BOOKS, PAMPHLETS AND POEMS (dempseyandwindle.com)