A huge thank you to all the poets – adult and teen – who entered this competition. Public Poetry received 581 submissions from 34 states as well as from overseas. Poems inspired by Sarcophagus Depicting a Battle Between Soldiers and Amazons were judged by David M. Parsons. Entries for Thomas Gainsborough’s Coastal Scene with Shipping and Cattle were selected by Patricia Smith. Linguist Staff poems were chosen by Robert Pinsky. Roberto Tejada judged Gustave Caillebotte’s Mademoiselle Boissiere Knitting.  Mary Szybist selected poems for Jim Love’s Area Code. The judges chose one winner ($250 prize) for each artwork; the audience at the MFAH on April 23rd picked the $1000 grand prize winner! Teen poems were judged by Writers In The Schools/ WITS.

Poetry Anthology

All of the winning poems as well as 19 additional poems selected by the judges as “Finalists” will be included in a poetry anthology that will be published in the fall 2015. We’ll be telling you more about this very special book and the Houston launch in the coming months. The 19 finalists are:

“The Long Battle” by Lynn Knight (CA)
“Amazonomachy” by Arne Weingart (IL)
“Adorned Inscription” by Iván Brave (TX)
“Perception of a Sail” by Lauren Winchester (DC)
“Coastal Scene with Shipping and Cattle” by Justin Jannise (IA)
“Imaginary Shore Scene” by Tricia Asklar (MA)
“The Ashanti Kings of Ghana” by Charles Hood (CA)
“Decibels” by Noreen Hyde (NH)
“Language Arts” by Beth Sherman (NY)
“A Linguist Stiff Speaks Up” by Cindy Williams Gitierrez (OR)
“Empire (Linguist Staff)” by Beth Bachmann (TN)
“Big Ears” by Diana L Conces (TX)
“An Autobiography of Love in Two Dimensions” by Chapman Frazier (VA)
“L’Ancienne” by Gabrielle Langley (TX)
“Caillebotte at Yerres” by Nancy Thorleifson (TX)
“Keepers of the Missing Trees” by Donna Neleson (AZ)
“The Grid” – by Brian Orth (KS)
“Love’s lexicon” by Beth Bachmann (TN)
“After Love” by Claire McQuery (UT)

Were you unable to make our awards event? Click on the image below to see the presentation!

Thanks to everyone who made ARTlines2 such a wonderful success. We’ll add photos of our event in days to come. Click below to view the presentation that was a part of our reception at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

[media-downloader media_id=”2138″ texts=”ARTlines2 Presentation”]

ARTlines2 was a national ekphrastic poetry competition organized by Public Poetry in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH).

Ekphrastic poetry may include literal descriptions of a work of art, the poet’s mood in response to a work of art, metaphorical associations inspired by a work of art, or personal memories about a work of art. Writers are invited to submit original poems inspired by five works of art shown on Public Poetry’s ARTlines2 web site, on the MFAH’s web site and on view at the Museum. This competition accepts poems in two separate age categories: adult (age 20+) and teens (age 13-19). The deadline for entries is midnight November 30, 2014.

Five independent judges – Robert Pinsky, David M. Parsons, Patricia Smith, Mary Szybist, and Roberto Tejada – will each select a winner and 7 seven finalists for one of the artworks, totaling five adult winners and thirty-five adult finalists. Writers In The Schools/WITS will judge our free teen competition and select five teen winners. A total of 45 poems by winners and finalist will be published with the accompanying artworks in an ekphrastic poetry anthology for ARTlines2