Category: Poetry

In mid-March I received an email from Tim with an attachment that had 25 poems for me to select from.  While 455 poems had been submitted, Tim had chosen just 25 for me to read.  I read and reread the twenty-five submissions, and clearly one kept standing out to me. Before making my final decision, I went back and read them all again to see if I would change my mind.  Here is what I wrote about my experience and the poem I selected, The Rebirth of Venus by Luisa Giulianetti:

I was delighted and surprised at the range of emotions and different journeys that were expressed in the poems which I reviewed. The pastel painting was part of a show calling for work on the theme of the kitchen goddess. I approached the painting from a whimsical point of view placing a dancer in a frying pan. The poem that I have selected captures the playfulness of the painting. It is called The Rebirth of Venus and the opening lines refer back to the painting Birth of Venus by Botticelli. I have fond memories of seeing that painting when I visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. I laughed with delight with the phrase ‘found new digs.’ While the Botticelli painting was not on my mind when I created my kitchen goddess, the reference shows how two paintings inspired the poem, and I love that. In the poem, the poet has the dancing goddess opening a scallop and of course the original Venus is standing in a scallop shell. In addition, the poet also captured so well the feeling of the dancer in the kitchen ‘reigning supreme.’

It was first published as the poem of the day on March 23, 20023.  Here’s the link to see Giulietti’s poem: https://www.rattle.com/the-rebirth-of-venus-by-luisa-giulianetti/

Mostly Dance’s editor, Kezia Gleckman Hayman, was with me when I saw the painting Birth of Venus.  We had spent time in Italy setting some of Avodah Dance Ensemble’s repertory on local dancers for a Jewish Film Festival. When our work was done we had a few fun-filled days sightseeing in Florence.  Kezia reminded me that we were so fascinated with the painting that we went back to view it a second time.  Here’s a link to see the Birth of Venus: https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/birth-of-venus

I was curious which poem the editor would choose, and I had to wait almost a week until it was published also as a poem of the day on March 30, 2023. He chose Joy by Melissa Madenski.

Comment from the editor, Timothy Green: “The best ekphrastic poems expand on their source image, pushing the experience in a new direction. Joy does that by finding all-too real grounding for the rich symbolism of JoAnne Tucker’s painting. Rather than describe the woman dancing in the frying pan, the poem describes the emotion she represents—and through the otherwise unrelated metaphor of the train. As a result, the poem enriches the painting while the painting enriches the poem, as if the two pieces of art were bound in their own dance together, exploring the complex transition from the darkness of grief back to the brightness of joy.”

Here is the link for Joy by Melissa Madenski: https://www.rattle.com/joy-by-melissa-madenski/

I was fascinated by his selection and that he focused on the emotion my Kitchen Goddess represented.

I encourage Mostly Dance readers to follow the link to the poems and not only to read them but to hear the poet read them.  It adds another dimension.  I am most grateful to Timothy Green for selecting The Kitchen Goddess for the February Ekphrastic Challenge, as it was fun, and an excellent learning experience.  I look forward to following the Ekphrastic Challenges each month and reading the selected poems.  I might even get brave enough to write a poem and submit it.

You can also go to the Ekphrastic Challenge page, scroll down and there is a link to both poems. https://www.rattle.com/ekphrastic/

Here’s the pastel painting The Kitchen Goddess painted around 2008 and accepted into a show in Denver

The Kitchen Goddess, pastel painting by JoAnne Tucker around 2008.

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