Invitation to first monthly 20 Poem Challenge

It's the Story About a Horse, and the Boy Who Loved Him, by Lorette C. Luzajic.

Welcome to Ekphrastic's first Twenty Poem Challenge!

Join us in November, five days a week, to see how a variety of artworks ignite your imagination. Click on the 20 Poem Challenge button in the top right to sign up, or just work clandestine at home.

We considered doing a year, a poem a day, a 100 poems, and all sorts of variation, and decided on a month-long commitment that can be renewed or selected one-time or a few times per year.

We hope you discover new ways of looking at art and thinking about art, and find creative expressions and subjects and words you might not have used outside of this art-prompted challenge. 

We are excited to share some wonderful art with you, and hope you find works that resonate with you and intrigue you; familiar works; strange works; and works that you have more difficulty connecting with. Considering art of all kinds can take our ideas and writing in so many directions. 

The artwork can serve as a springboard or it can be deeply integral to your poem. Spend some time looking at the painting, and then see where your imagination takes you. You can research the artwork or artist, or you can work solely with what is in front of you.

The rules are easy- you commit to writing twenty poems in response to the twenty prompts that will be posted under the headline "20 Poem Challenge." The artworks will be posted every weekday morning.

You can spend as much or as little time as you wish on the project. You can also write prose or fiction or any other inspiration that comes to you.

We hope you will find a few gems in your experiment. Polish your favourite works and submit them to Ekphrastic! The best pieces will be published.

Invite your friends to play.

Your humble editor will be doing the 20 Poem Challenge this month (and others) as well.

Can't wait to see what you write!

Lorette