PB POETRY FESTIVAL Announces Winners of Ekphrastic Poetry Contest

Susan R. Williamson, Director of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, has announced the winners of the 2019 Ekphrastic Poetry Contest, inspired by the TECH EFFECTexhibition which was on display earlier this year at the Cornell Museum at Old School Square in Delray Beach.

To enter, writers were asked to submit up to 30 lines of original poetry inspired by one of eight images featured in the TECH EFFECT exhibition that explore the complex influences of technology on the human experience and the natural world. It features artists whose work deals with technology in some way.

The first place winner was Sean Keck of Christianburg, VA for his poem "Yorick, circa 1980," for which he received a $100 prize. His poem was set against the image "Skull" by Brian Dettmer.

The next four winners in order were Liam Lawlor of Pembroke Pines, FL for "The Cornell Art museum,"Phyllis St. George of Springfield, MA for "Last-Minute Temptation," Michele Parker Randall of Sanford, FL for "If She Had Known," and Mike Lewis-Beck of Iowa City, IA for "The Way the Music Died." Each of whom received $25.

Their winning poems - along with another five "honorable mentions" - are published on the Poetry Festival's website at www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org.

"Judging this year's contest was an absolutely amazing experience," said Stephen Gibson, author of seven poetry collections, most recently, Self-Portrait in a Door-Length Mirror, winner of the 2017 Miller Williams Prize, selected by Billy Collins and nominated for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. "Congratulations to these poets and to all of the poets who submitted to this contest-and gratitude to the incredible artists who shared the Tech Effect images."

"The variety of creative responses to the inspiring artwork is always a surprising and interesting result of an ekphrastic poetry contest," said Williamson. "This year was no exception. The art was non-traditional and the poems written in response were brilliant in so many ways. We had entries from 28 different states and 10 foreign countries."

This year's winning ekphrastic poem:

Yorick, circa 1980

By Sean Keck

The music has all gone that once he knew,
flown on through other forms to newer ears.
The world he learned to Sony Walkman® to,
swept out upon the ash heap of the years.
Still would he wield his portable boombox
and symphonize the measures of his day;
that gleaming gadget like a second vox
declaiming to a street now far away.
If one could map the contours of his flesh
and gaze upon the grinning skull below,
no wonder he should find thereon impressed
a record of the soundtrack of his soul.
The music exits left when all's complete.
It's just the players who are obsolete.

About the Palm Beach Poetry Festival 2020:

The 16th annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival will be held January 20-25. 2020 at Old School Square in Delray Beach. The Festival will feature top poets at numerous ticketed public events, including readings, talks, interviews, panel discussions and more. Poetry workshops will be offered for which applications are required.

The Workshop Faculty of the 2020 Palm Beach Poetry Festival will include Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Nickole Brown, Reginald Gibbons, Jessica Jacobs, Major Jackson, Ilya Kaminsky, Dana Levin, Adrian Matejka, and Maggie Smith. One-on-One Conference Faculty includes Lorna Blake, Sally Bliumis-Dunn, and Angela Narciso Torres. The Special Guest Poet will be Joy Harjo, recently named Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, and Patricia Smith will be Poet-at-Large.

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival 2019 was presented in partnership with Old School Square and was generously sponsored by Art Works of the National Endowment for the Arts, Morgan Stanley, The Legacy Group of Morgan Stanley's Atlanta, GA office, the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, The Tourist Development Council of Palm Beach County; the Board of Commissioners of Palm Beach County, The Palm Beach Post, a grant from Visit Florida, WLRN-FM, and Murder on the Beach, Delray Beach's independent bookseller.

In 2010, the Palm Beach Poetry Festival received an Arts Challenge Grant from The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; and in 2011, it was presented with The Muse Award for Outstanding Cultural Organization (with a budget under $500,000) by the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County.

For more information about the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, please visit www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org.